Fees for dining, housing and parking at USF St. Petersburg are expected to increase in the 2013-2014 school year to fund on-campus renovations and account for rising living costs.
A student living in Residence Hall One or the University Student Center with a gold meal plan and a resident parking permit can expect to dish out nearly $300 next year.
Housing fees for RHO and the USC will increase by 2 percent; however, fees for Hilton residents will decrease by 17 percent.
For fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters, RHO residents paid $3,845 and USC residents paid $3,710. The 2 percent increase will tack on about $75 to next year’s rates.
Kay-lynne Taylor, director of Student Affairs, explained that housing fees usually increase slightly each year to keep housing at a particular standard and fund general projects while accounting for rising costs of living.
Last year, housing fees went up by 1.6 percent. The money went toward renovations in RHO, including the replacement of most carpeting with tile, overall painting, landscaping, new lounge furniture and the installation of flat-screen TVs in each lounge area.
Student Affairs will use excess funds from the increase to provide RHO residents with living conditions as similar as possible to those in the USC, which is a newer, more modern building, Taylor said.
Parking fees for 2013-2014 will go up by about 5 percent, adding $4 a semester to commuter permits and $6 a semester to resident permits.
At the Student Government general assembly on Jan. 30, Julie Jakway of Administrative and Financial services explained that the money would be used to maintain the parking garage and fund its expansion — a project currently in planning stages.
Costs for meal plans at the Reef will go up by 3.3 percent, increasing the $1,705.00 gold plan and $1,066.50 green plan by about $60 and $35 respectively. This does not include tax or SharkBite dollars used to purchase a la carte items at the Reef or Red Mango.
Part of this price adjustment is written into Sodexo’s 5-year contract, which mandates a 1-percent increase after the first year.
The remaining 2.3 percent of the increase comes from the U.S. Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in retail prices of goods and services. Meal plan prices fluctuate upon CPI as it increases or decreases each year, explained Josef Rill, assistant director of USFSP Auxiliary Services.
To justify meal plan increases, Rill presented a comparison of USFSP’s dining fees with schools in other states at the Jan. 30 SG general assembly.
The Reef’s gold plan was ranked 10th cheapest out of 14 schools sampled while the green plan was ranked seventh cheapest out of 10 schools sampled, he said, adding that both plans are cheaper than any at USF Tampa.
SG senators at the assembly were mostly accepting of the price adjustments, seeing it as a means for dining service improvement.
SG Sen. Franklin Alves has worked at the Reef and claimed to have seen serving stations cleaned with chemicals while food was still out, and expressed concerns about meat used in the meat grinder. He believes the price increase could help improve the quality of work performed at the Reef.
Rill said that although regular health inspections have found minor issues, the Reef passes all regulations regarding food quality.
Rill and representatives from Sodexo invite students to attend Dining Advisory Council meetings to voice their opinions about dining services and make suggestions for improvement. Meetings are held every other Thursday at 5 p.m. in the USC Coral Room.
