By Paige Quiggins

The budget crisis at the University of Louisville has claimed yet another victim.
Starting this semester, any non-Health and Sport Sciences major enrolled in HSS activity classes will be charged a $75 fee, which will be added to their tuition bill. According to Dr. David Britt, chair of the HSS department, the new fee has been implemented to produce more revenue in light of budget cuts.
“U of L has had a budget crisis, and we were asked to look at the things that we were doing that were not paying for themselves,” Britt said. “Because of the way tuition publications are figured at the university, currently 70 percent of the people that were taking those courses weren’t paying any tuition for them.”
Non-HSS majors enrolled in a course, such as junior mechanical engineering major Patrick Vocke, are not thrilled about the increase.
“I’ve had to pay several fees before in the past, so I guess it’s nothing new. That doesn’t make it any less upsetting or inconvenient, though… I hope that they find a way to decrease the fee in the future, or just eliminate it altogether.”
According to Dylan Naeger, HSS Activity Program Director, many of the students enrolled within HSS lab classes are beyond full-time, 12 hour status. When students carry more than 12 hours, the university loses revenue by allowing them to take lab classes without charging for the extra hours. Britt said that the department was losing between $115,000 and $220,000 per year.
“We put together a report for the Provost and [Dr. Ramsey] and laid out some options,” Britt said. “To make a long story short, we argued that if we were able to charge a $45 fee, and be guaranteed a certain number of [students] that we could probably make the courses pay for themselves.”
Britt and Naeger said that when the report came back from the university, they suggested a $75 fee. After the altered report went “further up the line,” according to Britt, it was decided that only the non-HSS majors should be charged the $75 fee to avoid putting too much on majors who were required to take the classes.
Britt said that the department recently submitted an appeal to have the whole matter revisited and try to get the fee dropped to $45 as they originally intended.
“I’m hoping some time during this semester or next semester that we will be able to get a hearing and see if we can reduce the fee from $75 to $45,” stated Britt. He continued that future hearings must be ratified by the Board of Trustees.
Non-HSS major students enrolled in a course, such as April Faust, a second-year chemistry major, are not agitated by the new fee.
“I’m already paying the take classes and this class is a good way for me to be active,” Faust said.
Britt said that he understands, in light of budget cuts and tuition increases, how unpopular a new fee may make his department.
“We could probably solve the budgetary dilemma that we were in and also keep the courses in shape,” Britt said. “In addition to having a nine percent tuition increase, we’re also imposing more fees, which nobody likes doing.”