An undoubted majority of BYU students breathed a sigh of relief last week when the university announced that undergraduate and graduate tuition will not increase for the 2002-2003 school year, in light of the nationwide economic slump.
Nonetheless, the university is not a bottomless pit of money and resources, and we as students should not treat it as such. We have a responsibility to show gratitude for this tuition freeze by finding ways to conserve resources, thus giving back to the university that has given so much to us.
Most students are not in a position to donate thousands of dollars to the university, but we are by no means helpless to contribute in other ways.
There are a number of simple actions students can take to minimize university costs. We can pick up trash in classrooms and around campus. We can turn off lights when leaving classrooms at the end of the day. We can treat equipment as if it belonged to us and not an insurance company with endless resources.
Especially at this time of the year, students can save university costs by avoiding tracking mud into buildings. We can shake the snow off of our umbrellas outside, rather than inside, buildings. We can leave doors closed, thus keeping expensive heating costs to a minimum.
We can, in the spirit of the Christmas season, work to be selfless and even clean up after other students in the Cougareat Food Court, in classrooms and around campus.
And of course, we at NewsNet can’t pass up the opportunity to mention that students often leave copies of The Daily Universe on classroom floors and on sidewalks near newsstands. We urge students to be conscientious in throwing away both newspapers and their inserts, rather than simply leaving them near newsstands or on the floor. There are recycling bins next to every major newsstand on campus, so if there is any portion of the paper students don’t want, they can easily drop it in.
NewsNet would certainly never discourage students from leaving copies of the paper on top of their desks for the reading enjoyment of other students. We do not, of course, want to throw away perfectly good newspapers. But once the papers have hit the floor, they are most likely ready to be retired in the nearest newspaper recycling bin.
These are just a few ways we can contribute to the university that is working hard to keep our costs down. According to the College Board’s 2000-2001 survey, the average yearly cost at a four-year private college is $17,123, but BYU’s undergraduate tuition is frozen at $1,530 a semester.
We encourage students to show their gratitude by working to conserve resources and save money. The more we as a BYU community do, the more money the university can put toward other educational resources.
