BSU to hold line on room and board rates

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 1, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

It isn't a room for two bits. But the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees did give Bemidji State University students residing in dormitories or eating at the campus dining center next year a break, voting to hold the line on residence hall rates and student union fees.

The board voted last week not to raise the basic residence hall rates and fees for student union programs at all seven state universities for the 1997-98 school year, meaning BSU students will see the same room rates as this year or a slightly higher rate because of inflationary increases for some services.

"(The board) felt there was enough money in the central office to be able to keep the rates where they are," said Dale Ladig, director of BSU's Residential Life, in a phone interview Friday. "This is probably a response to the public's concern to keep education costs down."

The current fees were set for the 1995-96 school year, and the board decided to keep them at that level for the third consecutive year. The base rate for a double-occupancy room with full meals at any state university is $2,740, and a single room with full meals is $2,965. An all-you-can-eat meal plan adds about $75 to the basic rate, and a room-only plan reduces the cost by $1,000.

However, prices will very slightly from campus to campus because of four additional charges that can be added to the bill. For instance, Ladig said, a computer wiring charge of $120 per room has been added to BSU's rate, and a $90 declining balance program has also increased the rate. The $90 is automatically assessed to each student's room rate, and the student then can use their identification card to make $30 worth of purchases at BSU variety stores. The wiring fee is to pay for the expense of wiring the dorm rooms for computer use.

Ladig said those two additional rates will remain the same for next year, but the other two varying rates -- cable and local telephone services -- could increase BSU's room rate marginally. He is still in the process of determining whether BSU will raise the price for the last two services.

In all, a double-occupancy room with 21 meals a week next year at BSU will cost students at least $3,043, and maybe a little more should cable or phone charges increase.

"If you look at St. Cloud (State University), their rates may be different than ours," Ladig said "but that's because somewhere one of those four additional charges is different."

The student union fees are used to fund the student union and union activities on each of the campuses. That means money allocated to BSU from the MnSCU system is not used to fund those programs, according to Director of Accounting Services Jerry Winans, and that students foot the bill for the student unions.

The base rate for union fees is $114, but BSU's rate was unavailable Friday. Universities can charge a supplement to cover additional expenses, but the combined total of union fees cannot exceed $210 per year.

According to Ladig, the board's decision not to increase the residential rates will not affect BSU's residential operations because even though the basic rate stays the same, the funding formula from which the universities receive their money will probably be increased by the board -- meaning inflationary costs will affect the MnSCU system and not students.

"Our general philosophy is to keep room and board as low as possible, and I don't foresee a problem at BSU," Ladig said about the decision to keep rates the same. "It went along with (state Legislature's) move to keep tuition down. I don't think there's anybody who wants kids to leave here with substantial amounts of debt."