Regents set cable TV fee

Southeast Missouri State University students will be paying a separate cable TV fee in the new school year that begins in August even though one regent says she's tired of the school "nickel and diming" students with various fees.

The Board of Regents on Monday approved the fee hike, along with increases in room and board charges.

Regent Kim Mothershead was the lone regent to vote against the $40-a-year fee and for a time the lone no vote blocked the administration's efforts to pass the fee.

The initial vote was 3-1 for passage, short of the necessary four votes needed for passage.

Five regents participated in the meeting including two by telephone.

Regent Doyle Privett was absent.

The conference call to Regent John Tlapek accidentally was disconnected during the meeting. As a result, Tlapek didn't get to vote on the cable TV fee when the issue first came up.

After a break later in the meeting, Tlapek was back on the line. Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, asked for a new vote.

This time it passed 4-1 with Tlapek casting the deciding vote.

During a break earlier in the meeting, Mothershead said she wanted to hold down student fees.

Another expense

"It is another expense for the kids. We are nickel and diming them all the time," she said. "It adds up."

Mothershead questioned why the university should even provide cable TV in the campus residence halls.

"They are here to do other things besides watch cable TV," she said.

But Southeast officials said students want cable access in their dorm rooms and academic buildings receive cable channels for instructional purposes.

University officials said the added fee was needed to offset increased cable charges from the cable provider, Charter Communications.

The annual cost to the university is increasing from $8,000 to $83,200.

Room and board

"We think students will understand when they check out the cost of cable," said Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president of administration and enrollment management.

School officials said the Charter Communications' bid is still lower than other bids received. Southeast officials aren't complaining.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast president, said the university had been paying a flat fee to the local cable operator even as the number of cable jacks increased.

"We had a very good deal," Dobbins told the board. "The rates hadn't changed for 10 to 12 years."

Room and board charges also will be going up.

The regents unanimously hiked room charges 3 percent or about $100 a year in existing residence halls and meal charges 1 percent or about $18 for the coming school year. The board set room charges at $4,290 a year for the new, nearly 300-bed Henderson Avenue residence hall now under construction.

That's the highest housing charge for any of the university's residence halls.

Counting in all the fees including existing telephone and Internet access fees and the new cable TV fee, students will be paying $4,600 to $6,200 to live on campus next school year. The regents also approved a 3 percent increase in rental charges for its 19 Washington Street apartments.

Monthly rates will range from nearly $288 for a one-bedroom efficiency apartment at 505 Washington to $382 for a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony.

In conjunction with all the housing fee hikes, the regents approved a $13.5 million budget for the university's housing operations for the 2003 fiscal year that begins July 1. The regents also agreed to upgrade the residence halls over the next eight years at a cost of about $13 million to be funded with annual room fee hikes of about 3 percent.

Housing charges weren't the only items on theagenda.

The regents also voted:

To provide six-week grades to students on a trial basis for the next three years in an effort to let students know how they're doing academically and help those who are flunking.

To charter the St. Louis Charter Academy for five years beginning July 1, 2003 and running through June 30, 2008. The new school will serve kindergarten through eighth-grade students in the city of St. Louis. It will have a maximum of 300 students.

It is operating as a private school in a former Catholic school in south St. Louis.

This is the third charter school to be authorized by the regents in the past several years.

The second charter school failed to secure a building or financing and its charter was pulled.

Regents said they hope this charter school venture succeeds. Charter schools are public schools that receive tax money but operate independently of school districts.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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