March 28, 2024

BY MATT HOWELL
Students might be seeing a few extra bucks added onto their student fees come September.

The increase would be either $5 or $7, and would be used to cover services that have been added over the past year. Conestoga Students Inc’s board of directors discussed the possible increase at their meeting on Feb. 23. There was no increase last year due to a budget surplus. The fee hike might not seem like much, but it would bring in between $11,000 and $13,000.

“My suggestion was a $5 increase, because I didn’t want an increase in the first place,” said CSI president Jeff Scherer. “Five dollars is still below what the cost of living is, which is projected at 2.4 per cent.”

The board will be making their final decision after looking at their budget line, and after health and College Student Alliance fees come in. March 15 is the cutoff for them to have their budget submitted.

In other business the board discussed advertising at KOI Musical Festival. Students who are thinking of attending the annual event in September will not be seeing the CSI logo on any media or advertisements for the event. At the meeting the board decided that the monetary request ($65,000 was given by last year’s board) is too high, and in past years they have not received the bang for their buck that they were hoping.

“The board just wasn’t seeing the value in what they were getting out of it.”

“This year they were asking for $60,000 pretty much to smack our logo on some things,” Scherer said.

Also discussed was an ear plug station for the Library Resource Centre to help students who are trying to focus on their studies. The cost will be around $500 to order the machine that dispenses the ear plugs, and 450 pairs of ear plugs. Board member Alice Lee introduced the proposal saying that this would be a good time to have the library quieter.

“Mid-terms are coming up and I noticed that the quiet study zone is not quiet, and when people get in a group they talk loudly, which causes complaints,” Lee said.

The upcoming election for a new board of directors was also on the agenda. The board wants to remind all students that election nomination packages are due by March 13 by noon in Rm. 2A106. Students wishing to run must have a 70 per cent average as of Dec. 31, 100 student signatures of support, be 18 and a full-time student, and be returning as a full-time student in 2015-2016. Anyone interested in running and looking for more information should contact board member and primary electoral officer Alfred Karathra at akarathra@conestogac.on.ca.

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