The University of Maryland DOTS increased its shuttle bus student fee by about 16 percent from last academic year to this year.
While other mandatory student fees increased slightly, the shuttle bus fee saw the biggest jump from last academic year to this year, Lexie Leong, a sophomore computer science major, said in a presentation at a Nov. 11 RHA meeting.
Full-time students were charged $861 in mandatory fees for the fall semester, with the shuttle bus fee accounting for $155.50 of this total. Students will be charged the same amount for the spring semester.
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The shuttle bus fee supports Shuttle-UM, NITE Ride and transportation facilities maintenance. The fee was $133.50 per semester last academic year, and $127 per semester the year prior.
The fee is “critical” to ensuring Shuttle-UM’s services, DOTS wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Monday. Shuttle-UM is funded primarily by the mandatory student transportation fee, according to the statement.
The one-time fee increase supports increases in employee wages, fringe benefits, utilities, insurance and other operational costs, the statement said.
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Leong said the fee increase is reasonable because it supports the hard work the employees do.
The shuttle bus fee adjustment for the next academic year has not been determined yet, Leong said.
RHA vice president Michelle Ameyaw said many of the other fee increases for the academic year are due to cost-of-living adjustments. The junior biology major hopes the fees have a limited impact on students.
“As long as it’s fair and the changes make sense, I think it is what it is,” she said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that the increase in shuttle bus student fees funds this university’s investment in electric buses. The fee increase funds increases in DOTS operational costs. This story has been updated.
