The Facts: Student Government will be voting on a bill to decide on USA Today‘s pilot Collegiate Readership Program at the University. The program will provide students with copies of national and local newspapers all year long. While the pilot program, which lasts four weeks, is free, there will be an annual student fee of $10 for the full program.
Our Opinion: This program is nothing more than a way for USA Today to increase their revenue, and the readership at the University is simply not high enough to justify such a program that will contribute to higher student fees.
Student Government will be voting on a bill Wednesday to trial the program at no cost to the students. If the survey from this program is positive, Student Government will go further to impose a $10 student fee for the full program of the distribution of USA Today, along with the News and Observer and another national newspaper. In a time where the appropriation of student fees is critical, a superfluous fee such as this is not needed.
USA Today‘s polls say only 3-5 percent of college students read a national paper, such as USA Today, and while they are using this as a selling point to promote world news, this percentage does not seem like the appropriate interest for Student Government to enact such a program. They should be finding ways to cut back our budget, rather than create more expenditures.
When interested students have the ability to read The New York Times and USA Today online, it is not necessary to force them to pay for extra copies in print. Organizations such as the University Scholars Program already have free copies of regional and national newspapers to give to students. The interest is just not as high as it should be to enact a program like USA Today‘s.
USA Today is using this program to increase their readership and generate nearly $330,000 from N.C . State alone, from student fees. This forced readership is merely a ploy to increase their revenue from print sources. Hopefully, Student Government sees this tactic and proceeds in this endeavor cautiously. There might not be harm in allowing the trial period of distribution, but after the four weeks the program may become permanent at N.C . State, and no one wants that.
While the membership through the program would be cheaper than their regular membership, the 3-5 percent interest is just not enough to justify forcing all students to pay for papers they won’t all read. While many student fees goes towards services at N.C . State, like the gym, is simply not fair to make every student pay for something they won’t even have the opportunity to use.
Every student will have to pay for this service; however, it is highly unlikely they will distribute 33,000 copies of USA Today to N.C . State. This means, unlike most student fees, this service will not be available to all students.
Since our University is still analyzing the effect of budget cuts, this type of fee is not necessary and money from students’ pockets could be better spent. Student Government, especially the Tuition and Fees committee, should understand this fee will not benefit the majority of students and should not support this program.
