Student Services and Amenities Fee

Here is the email regarding the new fee. Very similar to the fee that was in place before Howard removed it (compulsory student union fees).

Dear Student,

The Australian Government has passed a bill that allows Higher Education Providers such as AussieUni to now charge a compulsory Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) in 2012 of up to $264 per student.
'Uni Student member organization' UniLife wants you to tell us where you want your money spent in 2012, hence this survey.

Win 1 of 5 iPad2’s by completing the survey and then sending the link below to 4 AussieUni student friends to also complete.

Here is the link to the survey,

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ssafsurvey

We know it is a pain doing surveys, but this is your money and we want to make sure that we know where you want it spent.
Results will be published on the UniLife website on November 11^th 2011.

 

Thanks for your time and goodluck!

Cool. 5 Ipods to be won wow. Thats got to be the worst raffle of all time. Punters at an average sized uni (say 10,000 students) pay nearly 3 million dollars in new fees but when we give ideas for how to spend this money 5 of these students will get a nifty little gadget.

 

More bizarre is that they dont know how to spend it. We are forced to pay an additional $264 for services that the Uni has not thought of yet. It's similar to someone coming up to you on the street demanding money, with no choice at all, but softening the demand by saying that they have done it too hundreds of others and may spend it on something that reflects our wishes if only we tell them what to do.

 

If they dont know what to spend our money on why take the money in the first place? If Unis are now 'allowed' to charge this fee, then doesnt that mean there were services that Unis were having trouble providing. Here are some questions worth considering.

 

Why should all students subsidize the activities of a small number of students. E.g. student politics, student media, sports, the gym etc. Surely student activities, stores, clubs etc can be run on a non for profit basis. If an activity is too expensive for just the users to pay (even if non profit) then tough luck.

 

They need this new charge despite the fact that most food premises at Unis charge an amount comparable to privately run businesses. Where does this money go?

 

$264 equates to about a 5% increase in the students contribution to their study. A small but nevertheless significant amount especially when you consider just how easily this money can dissapear into a black hole of administration spending.

 

The easiest way to reduce the strain on uni services and facilities is by removing widespread waste and misuse to facilities. Computer facilties are a good example. Walk past 10 computers and see what they are being used for.

 

Facebook, Youtube, Googling random stuff & personal interest would take the 1st, 2dn, and 3rd place usually - with uni work after that. Facebook is by far the most common thing used and has no application at all to uni. Rather Uni students and government are subsiding people's online vanity and superficial social networks. If there isnt a computer available for you to print something from, at least you have the peace of mind that Gim Mee Phuk 'liked' the photo of his friend Me Doo Phuk getting an autograph from Girls Generation aka Asian girl band barbie doll impersonators.