Today is the deadline for opting-out of AMS student fees and the health and dental plan. Hopefully this isn’t the first you’ve heard of it, although chances are it might be.
During the rush of the first few weeks of school, amidst buying books, dropping courses and soothing hangovers, many students forget they that have a choice when it comes to many of their AMS fees. Every year, a large portion of students overlook the opt-out process.
At some other schools, student governments charge one large fee and then distribute the money later as they see fit. What’s nice about our system, though it may seem tedious, is that each student has complete control over where their student club fees are going.
Queen’s prides itself on how easy it is to start a club or one of the more than 200 existing clubs on campus. However, the number of clubs and subsequent fees are quickly growing to unmanageable levels.
Because our system is based on a “you’ve opted-in unless you tell us otherwise” structure, clubs could easily take advantage of those who are unaware. There’s always a portion of students who won’t check their fees and therefore will be paying a certain sum to each club, which adds up.
To receive the funds, each individual club gets ratified every year and its fee goes to referendum for renewal every three years. One simple mechanism that could immediately increase the ability of a club would be for the AMS to do a better job at promoting the opt-outable fees. By doing that, clubs would have an increased incentive to prove that they’re worthy of student dollars.
It’s important the AMS increases awareness about these fees, especially for the already overwhelmed and overloaded first-year students who may be paying for things they would have otherwise chosen to avoid. Students need a reminder that this is their money, and that it’s their responsibility to log onto the website and ensure they understand where it’s going.
If the opportunity to opt-out was d the way some other AMS initiatives are, fewer students would be wondering where their money went.
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