Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators have put forward this year three proposals aimed at lowering student costs in light of the current recession, focusing on ticket prices for on-campus performances, the cost of books and food prices.
TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka and TCU Vice President Scott Silverman spearheaded the initiative to subsidize ticket costs. "With the economy and students struggling to keep up with day-to-day costs and food costs, we're just looking to reduce the costs of social events on campus," said Silverman, a junior.
The vice president believes the project is feasible via a "reallocation and reexamination of costs and budgets." Specifically, this would entail "finding extra sources of money that maybe would have just sat in an account … and compiling it into one fund which is going to be used to reduce or eliminate these ticket costs," he said.
The Senate-sponsored reduction of ticket costs does have some limitations, according to Silverman. The body will only be able to subsidize student-run, on-campus events that are open to all Tufts students.
The project primarily aims to eliminate — or at least lessen as much as possible — ticket costs for culture shows and student-group performances, which Shapanka, a senior, called an integral part of the Tufts experience.
Senate budgets are due today, so whether Shapanka and Silverman's will be able to act on the idea remains to be seen.
"In the next two weeks we'll know a hundred percent if we'll be able to eliminate those costs," Shapanka said.
The Senate will not draw on the recovered funds to subsidize these events and instead hopes that the elimination of ticket costs will become a permanent change budgeted for annually.
Senator Brandon Rattiner, co-chair of the Senate's Education Committee, has been working on another project aimed at decreasing textbook costs.
Rattiner hopes to convince Tufts faculty members to post their course syllabi online before course registration, so that students will have a better idea of the information they will cover in class and the materials they will be expected to purchase.
"We really can't reiterate enough that it's important for students to have the information about their books ahead of time so they can make choices that best reflect their financial capacity and lifestyle," said Rattiner, a junior.
If students find out about necessary books well ahead of the start of courses, "they can take alternative means to order them at a more cost-efficient price," Rattiner added.
Faculty members have had mixed responses to the project. Some are hesitant to place syllabi online, and others insist that they need time to finalize the syllabi between course registration and the first day of classes, according to Rattiner.
Despite these concerns, he hopes to create a Web page where all syllabi are available and easily accessible. "Ideally, we would like it to be up for the spring of next year," Rattiner said.
Sam Wallis, a sophomore senator and the Services Committee chair, has led a further initiative to make Dining Services more cost-efficient. Specifically, he has been working with Dining Services Director Patti Klos to institute a "value menu" in Hotung Café. The main objectives of this project are to keep on-campus food prices competitive with off-campus restaurants and to provide students with economically friendly dining options.
