Students will not be paying up to $15 more to the Student Association after the Senate voted down the proposed student fee increase Tuesday night in Marvin Center.
The failed bill, which was three votes short of passing, would require incoming undergraduate students to pay $2 per credit hour, doubling the amount students now pay to the SA.
Bill sponsor SA Sen. George Blair (ESIA-U) said Senators Nisha Branch (SPHHS-G) and Kartik Bulusu (SEAS-G), who voted against the bill, did not act in the best interests of the GW student body.
“I truly believe that the bill failed due to the imprudent, selfish and short-sighted actions of a few graduate school senators who did not want a referendum put before undergraduates because they knew that if the students were able to decide for themselves, they would have adopted the referendum in order to create a dynamic student culture at The George Washington University,” said Blair, a sophomore.
Branch said she did not decide to vote against the bill because of personal reasons.
“I think it is unfortunate for students that senators believe that that other senators are voting on personal reasons,” said Branch, a graduate student. “Having talked with a number of graduate and undergraduate students, (I learned) every dollar does count. I would love to see more improvement at the University, but I hope everyone realizes that senators make decisions on the people they represent.”
SA President Lamar Thorpe, who proposed the student fee increase during his State of the SA address in January, said he was not pleased with the Senate’s decision.
“It is tragic,” said Thorpe, a senior. “The Senate failed once again.”
Sen. Nathan Brill (SoB-U) noted that the failed fee increase did not raise the current graduate student fee.
“I believe we did a major disservice to students,” said Brill, a junior. “We went out of our way to help benefit graduate students.”
Sen. Andrew Salzman (GSEHD), chair of the Finance Committee, said the SA received more than $2 million in financial requests from student organizations this school year and the SA only had $465,000 in funds available to allocate. Blair said that the failed student fee increase would have brought in more than $800,000 for student organizations.
“The student organizations are really hurt by this decision,” said Salzman, a graduate student. “There is never enough money for student organizations.”
This year’s Senate will meet for the final time this year on April 17.
