University of Maryland graduate students are expressing concern about a proposed mandatory University Health Center fee.

The health center’s executive committee presented the fee proposal’s initial draft to the student health advisory committee on Oct. 23 after approving it. Full-time students at this university would pay $136 for the 2026 academic year, and part-time students would pay $68, according to university documents.

Many graduate students say their limited use of the health center would not justify the proposed fee and that their wages would not cover it.

The proposal states the fee would allow the health center to offer a variety of services for no charge and “ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of healthcare offerings.”

For services covered by the fee, the proposal would replace insurance billing and student co-pays for health center visits, according to the proposal. The fee would also allow the health center to balance its budget and create a $500,000 reserve, the documents state.

If approved, the new fee is slated to go into effect on July 1.

The health center fee started being incorporated in student tuition during the 2022-23 academic year, which allows some graduate students to cover the fee with tuition remission from their assistantship or fellowship, according to this university’s graduate school website. The new proposed fee would be separate and mandatory, according to Mikol Bailey, the Graduate Student Government’s financial affairs and student fee matters vice president.

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This university’s student fees review committee voted 5-4 in favor of the proposed health center fee in a secret vote on Jan. 27, Bailey, a history doctoral student, told The Diamondback.

The student fees review committee consists of five undergraduate representatives, two graduate representatives and two staff members, Bailey said.

“It was the only vote that was that close in the committee,” Bailey said. “That is significant and I think that it shows that there is a divide on this campus between graduates and undergraduates for the fee.”

GSS president Varaa Kukreti said the organization urged committee members to keep graduate student perspectives in mind when casting their votes.

Kukreti, a cybersecurity graduate student, said she met with university president Darryll Pines on Feb. 3 to relay graduate students’ concerns with the proposed fee. The president’s cabinet voted on the proposal Tuesday, Kukreti added.

This university did not provide comment about the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.

In a statement to The Diamondback on Feb. 7, this university said the proposed fee is in the “internal review process.”

“We remain very sensitive to the needs and concerns of our graduate students and will take our review of the Student Fee Committee’s recommendations very seriously as we weigh input from all sides,” the statement read.

Hima Agarwal, an English doctoral student, said she uses the health center but does not agree with the proposal because graduate students are not paid enough to afford extra fees.

“As grad students, we have more expenses than income, and so it’s really important for the university to understand that and help us rather than hinder us,” Agarwal told The Diamondback.

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Bailey added that many graduate students do not use the health center and rarely come to campus because they live far away.

Spencer Durham, a mathematics doctoral student, said graduate students will feel the additional fees heavily, because inflation has increased while wages have not. Charging graduate students for an amenity that seems to be primarily used by undergraduate students does not make sense, he said.

“Having the goodwill of the graduate students and the employees in general probably goes a long way,” Durham said. “The more that is done to alienate them, it seems like it will hurt the university in the long run.”

Other students, including electrical and computer engineering doctoral student Xiyang Wu, said it is important for this university and students to improve their communication to better understand each other’s situations.

“If you want me to pay the fee and you give me a reason why it’s necessary, and I feel ‘OK, it’s really necessary,’ I think I’d just pay,” Wu said.