Students in residence halls will pay for an additional $35 fee

FLAGSTAFF-Living in residence halls and apartments UA leases will cost students $269 more per person next year, an average 8.7 percent increase to cover rising operating expenses and new facilities under construction.

The Board of Regents approved the new rates yesterday at a meeting in Flagstaff.

The increase will go toward maintenance, salaries, utilities, construction loans and to cover a fee that the university charges auxiliary units on campus, like Residence Life, which increased by 1 percent.

Anne Brookksher, Residence Hall Association vice president for campus affairs, said RHA supports the rent increase.

"We feel that there is a certain amount of maintenance to be done, and the rate is part of that maintenance," she said.

Residence Life Director Jim Van Arsdel said last month that the fee increase would be used to pay for construction of new dorms like the Highland Commons on the campus' southern edge.

"There are a number of things that contribute to raising fees," Van Arsdel said. "Besides paying for telephone services and leases for apartment complexes, there is a component related to new facilities."

Brookksher said the increase is fair and that students had a voice in drafting the fee.

For dorm dwellers, a new $35 Residence Hall Association fee will be mandatory next year. The fee was formerly an optional fee that varied in amount from hall to hall.

Brookksher said RHA proposed making the fee mandatory.

The fee will support "cultural, educational and social programming in university residence halls," according to Regents' information.

Brookksher said includes checking out movies, use of pots and pans, and allowing dorms to have barbecues.