I would like to give a response to Matthew Powers and all those others who have stated, “Undergraduates haven’t the right to complain about the fee.” To all of those, I return your “Shut up, undergrads,” with a “Shut up, graduates, and think about it.”
Maybe Bright Futures worked differently back in your day, but things have changed recently. Now, they don’t pay full tuition but a set by-the-credit-hour rate. And I am pretty sure that set rate will not be adjusted to accommodate this Reitz Union fee. Rather, undergrads will have to pay out of pocket, just like you. No, we don’t have massive amounts of spending money, as you seem to think. I have both Bright Futures and Prepaid; but if not for the federal loan I took out this semester, I would not be able to pay my rent right now, and my rent is not very expensive. We are all broke, not just you.
And then there is the ignorance of placing us all into one category. Many of us are like you once were, undergrad juniors and seniors, enjoying only one year or less of Bright Futures funding. Soon, we will join you in these woes. And then there are the fifth-year seniors, whom Bright Futures does not even support. Not all undergrads are financially equal. So we have just as much a right as graduates to protest this ridiculous fee.
