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This year the state of Utah implemented a change that prevents schools from charging extra fees. Regardless, fees aren’t technically supposed to exist, but the ones we have now go towards classes and sports that are in need of the money.
The fees for this school year have dropped 50 percent from last year, creating these new fees or increases of fees.
“It’s still the same money, we just had to change the wording of it to make it fit under state code,” vice principal Ryan Syme said.
Activity Pass Fee Increase
The activity pass from last year that got students into any NS sponsored activity has changed to the game day passes which gets students into high school home games. The game day passes cost $40 which is increased from the $25 from last year. The money helps to keep the sports teams running.
“In some ways it is a good thing,” Syme said, “because it allows, hopefully, everybody to participate. And you shouldn’t be stopped from participating in school activities because of financial difficulties.”
Many students have mixed feelings about these fees. Some students dislike them because they would rather not have to pay for the things they didn’t have to pay for before. While others don’t mind it because they aren’t really affected by the fees.
Students’ fees are now $5 to get into a home game if they do not have a pass. Those that attended eight or more games justify the fee of the game day pass. Freshman Alyssa Brinkerhoff thinks that the gameday passes are a great option to have for students.
“It’s a good option to have that option, because some people only go to two games,” Alyssa Brinkerhoff said, “but other people go to every game and they don’t want to be paying $100 every year just to go to games.”
Paying for every individual game could become a financial problem for some students. Some people know they want to go to the games but don’t know if they will go to $40 worth of games. Senior Hattie Bradley has this problem of figuring out if it is worth it to buy the gameday pass or not.
“My problem was, I didn’t know if I was going to end up going to enough games that a game pass would actually help me,” Bradley said. “I ended up not buying one, but if I end up going to more games, then I wish I had bought one.”
Other Fees
As for the other fees like the library, extra lunch and parking fees, there isn’t much love from most students.
This year every day your book is overdue it’s a 20 cent late fee for every day including weekends. For students who have an overdue book over the weekend it can be up to a 60 cent late fee. For students who never have an overdue book the fees don’t affect them.
“As a person who is very forgetful, I think it is dumb,” Brinkerhoff said. “I don’t want to bring two dimes into school the next day saying, ‘Hey, sorry, my book was overdue. Here’s two dimes.”
In the past years at NS you could get one extra milk and seconds for no cost for lunch. This year one extra milk cost 50 cents and seconds more than that. Senior Tyce Walker thinks it’s frustrating about not being able to get a second milk.
“It’s like playing roulette,” Walker said. “You never know if you’re going to get chunky or expired milk. If they increase the quality, I could justify the 50 cents.”
The fees for NS have changed this year. Some students believe it’s for the better and others believe it’s for the worst. Either way, the fees for NS have changed and students and parents need to be aware of the changes made.
