Student leader proposes increase in student fees
The entire city of Boulder may be riding the Hop for free if UCSU approves a newly submitted proposal.
Mark Olofson, a first-year graduate student studying education, is proposing a slight increase in student fees in order to make the Hop bus route free of charge for everyone in Boulder.
According to Olofson’s proposal, the city of Boulder takes in about $60,000 in revenue from the Hop. Since CU students pay for an RTD pass as part of their student fees every semester, Olofson is proposing that CU students make riding the Hop free for everyone in Boulder. To do this, each student would pay an additional $1.05 on their student fees.
“This is a way for us, the student body, to give back to the community a little bit everyday instead of a few big things every once and a while,” Olofson said.
Olofson is working in conjunction with College of Education Senator Joshua Childs. Childs, also a first-year graduate student in education, said that even though he is a newcomer to UCSU he is taking Olofson’s idea seriously.
“I feel that being as his Senator, I should support him and his idea,” Childs said. “I hope it gets people thinking outside this campus.”
Tri-executive Hadley Brown, a fifth-year senior English major, said that Olofson’s proposal is worth pursuing.
“It was the first I’ve heard of it, but it’s definitely worth look into,” Brown said. “We need more information.”
Legislative Council President Boyce Postma, a senior architecture major, said that he thought what Olofson was proposing would prove to be difficult to implement.
“My official position is that it would be difficult,” Postma said. “I definitely encourage him to look into it and find a representative who could present a formal bill.”
Aside from Olofson’s proposal, no other bills were introduced or discussed. The other major topic of Thursday’s meeting was the upcoming tuition forum on Tuesday, Jan. 29.
The forum, entitled “Higher Education: Where Did We Go Wrong? How to Move Forward?” will focus on how to address the problem of rising costs for students at CU. Brown said that a student voice in the discussion of higher education funding was vital.
“The money we’re receiving from the state is not sufficient,” Brown said. “The people making the decisions . aren’t talking to the people being impacted by the decisions and vice-versa. It’s a communication problem.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Rob Ryan at rryan@colorado.edu
