SDSU bond fee shift won’t influence USD

While students at SDSU may soon be seeing a change in the way their fees are distributed, USD students won’t see the shift.

SDSU officials are in the process of re-evaluating the way its utilities and bond fees are dispersed among students.

SDSU is one of four public universities, including USD, in the state that charges a bonding fee, which is essentially the equivalent of a mortgage on campus dining facilities.

Students who attend SDSU with a meal plan currently pay $188.80 each semester for the bonding fee.

The proposed change would extend the fee to include all students, resulting in full-time students without a meal plan paying an additional $177 per semester, said Doug Wermedale, the SDSU interim vice president of Student Affairs.

Wermedale said it’s estimated that the proposal would save students who are currently paying the fee approximately $200 a year, should it pass at the South Dakota Board of Regents meeting in December.

The university conducted research about who uses their dining facilities and found that one out of four students who use campus dining facilities are students who do not have a meal plan. In some cases, it was one out of every two.

The redistribution of this fee wouldn’t generate new funds and would be more fair to all students, Wermedale said.

“Contemporary students want lots of choices. They want them to be fast, upscale, healthy, close to home,” he said. “To provide this we have to support and finance those facilities.”

Caleb Finck, SDSU’s Students’ Association President, said while their student Senate has yet to take a stance on the issue, they will be facilitating discussions on the potential change within the next few weeks.

SDSU juniors and seniors may end up being slightly more effected by this fee, because they previously paid for the bonding fee during their first two years, when they were required to have a meal plan, Finck said.

“There is that cohort of students that get caught in the middle and who will end up paying a little extra,” Finck said. “But I think it’s important to go back and look at your ethics 101 and try and decide if the good of the many outweighs the good of the few.”

USD Vice President of Finance Shelia Gestring said university officials discussed SDSU’s proposal, but found that USD has always had a good balance between general activity fees and bonding fees, and therefore changing those numbers isn’t necessary at this time.

All USD students currently pay a $5.04 GAF fee per credit hour. Students who have a meal plan pay a $84.40 bonding fee each semester to help pay for the Muenster University Center’s annual $850,000 bond payment.

Gestring said those numbers only go up minimally year-to-year due to inflation.

“You can argue that those with and without a meal plan utilize the facility,” Gestring said. “Those without a student meal plan may use the student union, but not to the same extent as those with and that’s why we landed on being comfortable with keeping our current balance.”

Gestring also said the administration discussed SDSU’s proposal anecdotally with the Student Government Association, but found that students were happy with what they are currently paying each semester.

Gestring said USD reviews bonding fees once or twice a decade. No changes have been planned for the next few years.

SGA president Sami Zoss said in an email that she believes a change isn’t necessary.

“We’re unique in the fact that almost all of our food is in a central location (MUC),” she said. “And I think that splitting costs between meal plans and MUC fees (through) GAF makes sense.”