Students Not Dollar Signs: Struggling With Money on Campus

By Latisha Lewis, Dominique Elias, and Andrew Beachy

This article is a companion piece to a larger article concerning money on campus. Read the main article here: Students Not Dollar Signs: A Deeper Look into Capitalism on the FSU Campus

When freshmen come to Frostburg State after graduating from high school, they experience a lot of mixed feelings. Excitement, nervousness, and anxiety are just a few. Among these, frustration sometimes reigns supreme. While high school prepared them academically, many come to Frostburg very much unprepared financially. While student loans are there for the taking, some students are uneasy about the predatory nature of said loans. Luckily, many students have parents and other family members that can help pay for the costs of attending Frostburg State University.

As all entering freshmen know, Orientation is a requirement and a mandatory class. However, some students are put off by the required fee to take the class - $120. Jenna, a sophomore and nursing student, remembered having to pay the orientation fee just like every other incoming freshman. As she put it, it was “a little frustrating”.

However, Orientation is often viewed as a helpful way to introduce students to the university campus and higher education, as well as to instruct students about how to thrive during their time at Frostburg State. The catalog description of the class describes the class as geared toward the “orientation of incoming students to academic and social contexts of college life.” Topics covered in the class include the “Nature and process of higher education; education and career planning; learning skills; support services.”

The Billing Office is often the first to receive complaints regarding the mandatory fee to take this mandatory class. As one Billing Office representative describes the class, “[Orientation] is a mandatory class as an incoming freshman so that they can come in knowing how to be proactive as students, where to go, how to pay their bills, how to live and be a student. Those are important skills that they do have to learn … so it’s a mandatory fee, and we do have a lot of students who ask questions about that fee.” She continued, saying “We do have to charge students that mandatory fee, due to it being decided by the Board of Regents. … Unfortunately, that does happen a lot. Our department doesn’t make those official decisions; the power comes from higher up at the Board of Regents.”

“I can sympathize with those students who have money problems. I still have student debt, too.”

Just like Orientation, many other classes at Frostburg State have mandatory fees. Aaron, a freshman and an art and design major, thinks that these fees are excessive and unnecessary. “When it comes to GEP requirements, they’re charging us even more for the classes we need to graduate,” he said. “It’s like there are just too many little things they’re charging us for.”

These fees, along with the rising costs of attending Frostburg State, are taking a toll on some students. Autumn, a junior majoring in psychology, is feeling the burden of the expenses of higher education. Although she is fortunate enough to have her parents helping her to pay for her schooling, she still faces difficulties trying to get on one of the university’s interest-free, debt-free payment plans. “It’s hard to get on the payment plan because of the $80 fee. I’m trying, but I just can’t afford that right now,” she said.

Erich Matz, adjunct professor of sociology at Frostburg State, knows what it’s like to struggle with paying for higher education. “I can sympathize with those students who have money problems. I still have student debt, too.” Although paying for higher education can be difficult, students can find support from their professors, the university, their families, and one another.