Higher Ed | Daily Report

San Diego State University students voted this week on a fee increase to build a new student union, marking the third such vote since 2002, the Daily Aztec reports.

Students already approved a fee increase of $56 in 2006 to pay for the new center, but the revenues are no longer expected to cover the project's price tag. Now students have to decide whether to approve another fee hike of $94, bringing the total semester fee to $237. (The first time students voted on a fee increase in 2002, they rejected it.)

It turns out that the original 2006 fee increase won't cover the cost of the project because bond interest rates have increased, while student enrollment has decreased, university officials say. The project, called Modern Space, is now estimated to cost $98 million.

The new fee would provide $58 million in project revenues.

Students participating in last week's March 4 Day of Action handed out fliers protesting Modern Space. And the Daily Aztec editorial staff rejected the idea:

"We don’t need a brand new Aztec Center right now, and we don’t need any more fees than we’re already paying," they wrote.

But Associated Students President Tyler Boden endorsed the project.

"As a student, as our campus improves and grows, our degrees become more and more quality and carry a lot more weight. We’re voting not just for ourselves, but for the future students of San Diego State," he told the Daily Aztec.

According to a Web site about the project, Modern Space will feature a classic Mission-style design with the most up-to-date services and technology.

Students can take in views from the glass-enclosed fitness center, tap into wireless Internet in plush study lounges, or catch a movie in the new multipurpose theater.

The 2006 increase took full effect in spring 2010 – this semester. The idea was that it would be timed to coincide with a groundbreaking on the new facility. But no construction has yet begun.

It's the future Aztecs who will pay the full price of the new Aztec Center, should it materialize. If approved, the new fee increase will not go into effect until fall 2013, when the university aims to open the revamped student union.

If the fee hike doesn't pass, the university will simply remodel the existing Aztec Center at a cost of nearly $40 million, the Daily Aztec reports.