University Times

Pitt trustees voted to raise the security, safety and transportation fee for Pittsburgh campus students to $55 per term or session, beginning this fall.

The fee had been $37 for full-time and $16 for part-time students.

The increase will fund continued improvements in Oakland lighting and enable Pitt students to ride free on all Port Authority Transit bus and train routes, under a one-year pilot project.

The project still needs approval from PAT's board of directors, which is expected to vote on the plan July 24.

Staff and faculty likewise will get free, unlimited access to PAT by flashing their Pitt ID cards, but the University's administration — not students — will subsidize employee ridership.

Previously, the fee paid for improvements in security and outdoor lighting and expansion of campus shuttle service. It also enabled students to ride free on PAT within the U-Zone encompassing Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. Under the pilot project, the U-Zone will be expanded to all of Allegheny County.

The new flat rate of $55 per term for both part-time and full-time students was approved by a committee comprising representatives of the Student Government Board, Graduate and Professional Student Association, Resident Student Association and the University Senate.

One argument used to support the flat rate, with its disproportionate fee increase for part-timers, was that all types of Pittsburgh students would benefit equally from free PAT access — if not educationally, then in their social and professional lives.

Also at the June 25 Board of Trustees meeting, trustees approved the following student fee hikes at the regional campuses:

* An increase from $75 to $90 in the Bradford campus's one-time orientation fee for first-time, full-time students and assessment of $15 to first-time, part-time students, including transfer students, who participate in a summer advising/course registration session.

* A hike from $25 to $35 in the orientation fee for each Greensburg campus freshman.

* Increases in Greensburg's student activity fee from $30 to $35 per term for full-time students and from $10 to $12 per term for part-timers.

* Increases in the student intercollegiate athletics fee at Greensburg from $25 to $40 per term for full-time students and from $5 to $8 per term for part-time students.

* Hikes in Greensburg's student center fee from $28 to $32 per term for full-time students and from $10 to $12 per term for part-timers.

* At the Johnstown campus, an increase in the student facilities fee from $90 to $98 per term for full-time students. The $12 per term fee for part-timers will remain unchanged.

* At Titusville, increases in the student athletics fee from $25 to $30 per term for full-time students and from $5 to $10 per term for part-time students.

— Bruce Steele