By Callie Boyd

Clemson University students pay anywhere from $246.50 to $1,411.50 in mandatory fees per semester. This may seem excessive at first glance but it's actually better for students to have these fees than to have all of these costs rolled into tuition. Of the maximum nine mandatory fees that students can pay, five of them have direct student oversight; two have indirect student oversight; while only two have no student oversight.

Every student at the university sees benefits from these fees, whether they realize it or not. Every full-time student is able to go to Redfern Health Center for free in order to receive medical check-ups. Additionally, they are eligible for up to 10 sessions of mental health counseling per semester free of charge. Students are also eligible to receive reduced prices on prescriptions, lab testing and other services at Redfern. This is all provided for by the student health fee of $131.00 per semester.

The student health fee is one of two fees that do not have student oversight; however, it is clear that students receive many benefits from the fee.

The two fees that have indirect student oversight are the software license fee and the College of Business and Behavioral Science major fee. The software license fee provides students with the most service per dollar than any other fee. Students receive Microsoft Office, Vista, MATLAB, Maple and over a dozen other software titles for free. If students were to buy this software separately it would cost well over $1,000. The software license fee is $12 a semester. The license agreements are regularly discussed with members of the IT Advisory Board and students are given the opportunity to give input on the use of this fee.

The CBBS major fee, paid by junior and senior CBBS majors or those taking 300 or 400 level CBBS courses, provides many opportunities to CBBS majors. The high tech stock trading room is just one example. There are dozens of events throughout the year for CBBS majors that are funded by this fee. There are also more 300 and 400 level courses being offered. CBBS has a student advisory board that is responsible for giving input regarding the use of the CBBS fee.

Five fees have direct student oversight: the technology fee, transit fee, campus recreation fee, student activity fee and library fee. All five of these fees have student boards that oversee how every cent of the fee is spent. This gives students control of how $265.50 per student per semester is spent. If this money were to be included in tuition students would have little, if any, idea on where the funds were being spent.

These fees have gone to improve campus services for all students. The technology fee is enabling wireless Internet to be extended across campus, increasing the speed and reliability of the campus network, and allowing for increased technical support for students.

The transit fee has enabled CAT to add certain routes and increase the amount of hours that CAT is running. The campus recreation fee has allowed for Fike Recreation Center to create an outdoor recreation program and to add new equipment for students use.

The student activity fee allocates approximately $1.1 million to student organizations. This gives 300 clubs the opportunity to travel to conferences, have speakers on campus, and provide for campus-wide entertainment. The library fee allows the library to increase the amount of study space available. It has also allowed students to have access to more databases.

If we compare these nine fees to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, we see how reasonable the fee structure at Clemson is. Students at UNC pay 29 fees in addition to tuition. Among these is a "student dining debt retirement fee" of $37 per semester. Students at UNC don't have control over how all of these fees are spent like Clemson University students have control over how almost all of our fees are spent.

So the question is this, as a student would you rather have control of the money you give the university or have the money hidden in tuition? For me, the answer is clear.

Callie Boyd is Clemson University's Undergraduate Student Body President