UF students could get a chance to vote on whether a 5 percent technology fee is implemented, according to a bill passed Wednesday by the state Senate's Committee on Higher Education Appropriations.
The bill would allow each university's board of trustees to charge up to a 5 percent technology fee - about $3 per credit hour for undergraduate, in-state UF students. The fee would not be covered by the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program, and universities could begin charging it in fall 2009.
The bill must be approved by the Senate, the House of Representatives, Gov. Charlie Crist and students at each campus through student elections.
If a majority of students at a particular university don't support the fee, it will not be implemented at that institution, the bill states.
The fee could generate up to $37.3 million statewide if all 11 public universities charge the full 5 percent fee, according to a bill analysis. UF's share would be about $7 million, said UF spokesman Steve Orlando.
Crist approved a similar technology fee in October 2007, but the Senate committee decided to redraft the proposal and include the student-approval condition.
UF's Board of Trustees, the university's highest governing body, voted in approval of the fee at its November meeting.
Student Body President Ryan Moseley said Student Government and the Florida Student Association, a group of student governments of which Moseley also serves as president, lobbied for the referendum provision.
"If we're going to charge students extra, they should have their voice heard on the issue," Moseley said.
He said he thinks most UF students would be willing to pay more money for improved technology. Moseley said he would form a task force in the next two weeks to determine which improvements the technology fee could fund.
Orlando said the fee is necessary to keep up with the rising demand to produce technologically savvy students. He said students should keep in mind that UF has one of the lowest tuition rates in the country, and a 5 percent technology fee wouldn't change that.
"I think we still, even with an increase like this, remain extremely competitive and affordable," he said.
