Letter to the Editor
Students need to sacrifice, too
A simple, one-time-only fee of $100 is not even a drop in the bucket compared with the money staff are more than willing to sacrifice in order to avoid layoffs. Many of us will be shedding thousands of dollars through June 2011 in order to have the privilege to continue serving students’ needs at the UI. Being involved with the university, be it as a student or other, is about having an extended family through the rest of your life.
For students who believe that the $100 fee is a horrible, unfair attack on their situation, please understand that the decision was not made lightly. We all need to pitch in. The students are being asked to pitch in very little when put into the proper context.
Will it still hurt? Of course. Nobody is getting out of this unscratched. Students who don’t think that the budget cuts haven’t affected them during the past year or two haven’t been paying attention. Our institution’s services are slower, and their reach has shrunk. This will continue, sadly, until our economy picks up again.
Balance this: Is it better for each student to pay $100 once or for hundreds of university employees to be let go? Many of those employees have kids who need insurance. Some of those employees have medical conditions that were covered under their old health insurance. But now that they need to seek work elsewhere, they could be considered pre-existing conditions and refused future health care. Both of those situations would end up costing the state of Iowa a lot more than $100 a head.
To the students who understand the situation and gladly chip in: Thank you.
Ben Bessman
UI employee
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