Mark Braboy
Associate Editor
Many Jackson State University students were shocked to learn of a recent change made to the Housing Application fee and process.
For the 2015-16 school year and forward, all students who apply will be required to pay a $100 application fee every school year instead of the previous one-time fee of $75.
JSU students were informed on Feb. 16 by a mail from the Department of Housing/Residence Life that all students must pay a non-refundable $100 application processing fee by May 1, the priority deadline, in order to apply for a room. Applications online have since been updated to reflect the change.
According to the original housing application and contract, a $75 one-time fee was required unless a student lived off campus for longer than five years. The current agreement will expire on May 3, 2015.
“I don’t feel like we should pay the $100 processing fee. It is a strain on the student body as a whole. We feel like Jackson State does not completely care about their students. It’s inconvenient to us as a whole, to those who aren’t as fortunate as others, and to people who don’t have jobs because they go to school,” said Bre’Ann Williams, a sophomore graphic design major from Tulsa, Okla.
Claude Huddleston, the Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life said policy is already done at other universities.
“This is a new policy. All students will be charged a $100 application each academic school year. This and other potential changes are current with many other colleges and universities. We are trying to adopt best practices in Student Affairs here at Jackson State. The $100 application fee will be applied to the students’ balance, once given a room assignment,” said Huddleston.
A small group of students held a meeting on Feb. 10 on the 3rd Floor of the H.T. Sampson Library to discuss their plans to protest the fee while others used the social media site Instagram to express their displeasure.
Garnering support from some of the organizations on campus, one picture posted depicted a tiger with a noose around its neck.
“We should not have to pay for something since they made us pay that $75 dollar deposit when we first got here. If we paid that in the beginning with the understanding that we were supposed to pay that once for our tenure here, I don’t understand why they want $100 dollars from each of us, which is larger than the original fee,” said Courtney Walker, a sophomore English education major from Belleville, Ill.
This new policy is similar to policies at Belhaven University and Alcorn State University where all students must pay a $100 and $125 application fee, respectively. JSU’s new policy however somewhat differs from schools like Mississippi State University, The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), Mississippi College, and The University of Southern Mississippi where the application fee is $75.
Students protesting the new policy hope to create a dialog between Student Affairs, JSU President Carolyn Meyers, and the student body in order to negotiate a better solution and to fully understand why these new changes are taking place.
“I think it’s just a situation where morally the students feel like they’ve been done wrong and we feel like it’s an opportunity to come together to make a difference in something we all believe in. We’re taking this one step at a time. We want to do this the right way and we want to do this peacefully and to be able to get the respect from the administration that we deserve to hear us out on our issues and concerns,” said Kedric Hayes, a sophomore biology major from Chicago, Ill.
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