Saturday, September 9, 2023

Kitts Asks For...& Gets...Record UNA Fees

 





Many students returning to UNA this fall were gobsmacked by fee increases. Rates that had been $30.00 an hour were now $60, $90, or even $100 per credit hour. It appears that nursing students who paid $90.00 fees for a three-hour course last year are now paying $300.00 for the same course. Yet Kenneth Kitts points to a projected deficit for the '23/'24 school year.

One of our readers has brought up quite a few interesting points:

As of this morning, I became aware of an article posted online by our university newspaper detailing new, steep fees that many students like myself were unaware of.

The article discusses these new fees and how the cost of tuition/fees at UNA compares to rival schools like Jacksonville State University and the University of Alabama.

https://theflorala.com/15754/news/better-at-jsu-una-student-fees-surge/#photo

UNA did not release a statement this year about raising student tuition or fees, and the increase only gained minimal external press coverage. Personally, I was unaware and blindsighted about the updates. Only because of student efforts at the Flor-Ala to publicize this was I made aware of these changes.

As described below, the university is changing how fees are organized and the price of these fees. Some majors face over a 300% increase per credit hour.

The only official memo from UNA that discusses this increase is below. Please note this was posted in June 2022.

https://www.una.edu/pressroom/2022/06/finance-committee-recommends-increase.html

Additionally, UNA's Board of Trustees June 2022 Meeting Minutes can also be found below. This was the meeting where the increase was passed. The increase is listed in the last paragraph of page 4. Please note this meeting and decision took place in June 2022.

https://www.una.edu/administration/docs/board-meeting-minutes/june-10-2022-meeting-minutes.pdf

As a student here at UNA, the lack of transparency from administrative figures and the Board of Trustees is extremely aggravating. Although raising tuition and fees is inevitable, these changes should be accessible public knowledge. Students like myself should not have to research when, where, and how these decisions are made. Also, students should be made aware of these changes to plan for a price increase effectively.

This is breaking news to many students, but what is concerning is that UNA's payment deadline was last week; the vast majority of students were completely unaware of this increase but still paid their bill. Of the students that were aware, only a handful understood why this increase occurred and how it changed on their bill. Previous fee listings, if not removed, are now lumped in with the new "College Instructional Fee."

This also comes only a couple of months after an announcement to construct a new football stadium for UNA, which has recently obtained D1 athletic status. A UNA-sponsored memo about the stadium is linked below.

https://www.una.edu/pressroom/2023/06/bank-independent-stadium.html

Ultimately, the lack of transparency between the University of North Alabama and its students is appalling and disgraceful. Students have a right to know what they are paying for, and the university is responsible for making this information easily accessible.


2 comments:

  1. I'm glad my daughter graduated from UNA in 2020 with her B.S. in Nursing BEFORE this crap.

    ReplyDelete