Editorial Board/FIUSM Staff
Biscayne Bay Campus is notoriously known for being crowded with every kind of student besides those of FIU. High school students crowd the hallways and the cafeteria, and now Maritime Science Technology Academy students are granted FIU OneCards to crowd every other University facility, too, taking advantage of services paid by student fees — fees these high schoolers don’t have to pay.
While most students blame the high schoolers for the loud noise level and overcrowding of BBC’s cafeteria, these students may actually be using additional services that they do not even pay for. Instead, these services are funded out of University students’ pockets at no cost to MAST.
University students pay $12.37 per credit hour each semester as part of the activities and services fee for services like the Recreation Center and Campus Life’s free (or not-so-free) events.
If MAST students are eating our “free” slices of pizza and using our gym, shouldn’t they be paying a fee like every other student?
Student Government Association is investigating if and how much MAST students use University services to charge a fee if determined necessary. This should have been assessed before students were handed FIU OneCards — at most, they should have received library cards.
In response to complaints, it was said that MAST students are indeed FIU students taking FIU classes. If this is the case, they should be treated as such — fees and all.
Most students complain that high schoolers crowd the cafeteria, but luckily this is only a 30-minute nuisance each day. As much of a nuisance this is, the real burden comes when University students are funding these high schoolers’ access to the gym and campus events.
And while this semester there are a mere 90 MAST students, with the building of a MAST facility in the next two years, BBC will be home to a thousand MAST students — maybe then the University will better recognize these students using services for which they should pay.
But a system should be in place to better assess how student services are used and who should be paying a fee.
University students are clearly not the only people using these services, and if MAST students are FIU students, they should pay FIU student fees. Hopefully a fair system can be put in place so that both University and MAST students are happily using the services they pay for.
opinion@fiusm.com
There’s an error in this piece. BBC won’t house a thousand MAST students, that is in reference to the new facility they will be building. It’s a little confusing in the article I wrote on this subject (don’t blame me).
This is actually one of the funniest articles I have ever read since the content within it is so ridiculous that it is making college students sound jealous and uneducated. First of all, their half hour of lunch is very early in the day clearly on purpose (what college student eats lunch at 10:30?) Secondly, your tuition dollars do not begin to cover the costs of anything at your school, it is mostly subsidized by the government (also, most Florida college students do not pay tuition fully out of pocket- FAFSA, bright futures, etc.) Thirdly, your services are not being reduced because of these 90 brilliant students, only somewhat shared. I say whoever wrote this article and those who participated in it think twice about bashing on those high schoolers and instead do some real research and use your tuition dollars for become more educated.
I agree with David, grow up there just kids. Wow that’s smart of who ever wrote this article to say that FRESHMAN HIGH SCHOOLERS CAN USE A GYM !…. Nice you sound very uneducated yourself maybe you should ask MAST students for help on writing a article.
Some people said that there are no seats and that the cafe is already crowded enough from 10-11, there are barely any FIU students there and there are always seats available and I have never seen the cafe without an empty seat. I also noticed that the article talked about MAST students using student services and the FIU one cards, but there is no data or evidence supporting this statement (“After they swipe their card, we can get the data,” she said. “It’s the beginning). I have never seen or heard of a MAST student use the student paid services such as the game room or gym, and there is no evidence backing up this statement either. Many of this information is lacking any support while at the same time claiming that the MAST students are abusing services.
First off, as a MAST student, I’m sorry on our behalf that you feel this way about our program. We are EXTREMELY grateful that we get the opportunity to share this campus with all of you. However, this article is almost completely false. The MAST students are not allowed to use any of the student paid facilities, including but not limited to buying food from the food court (or other means of food providing), the gym, the game room, or the pool. The only facility we have access to is the library, which is public anyway. We have only been allowed to but food once in our entire stay at FIU, and even if we were allowed to use the gym as mentioned above, we would have to be 16 years of age, which none of us are (we are freshman). Also – before accusing us of using your services, you should check our FIU One Cards to see if we really are even using your service to have some evidence. Thank you.
This article presents a FALSE image of MAST@FIU students. As a proud student of MAST@FIU, I find many points in this article false and don’t find it fair that articles with unreliable information are being posted online for anyone to see. This not only makes our students look bad, but yours too for writing article practically whining about high schoolers. Specifically when you stated “If MAST students are eating our “free” slices of pizza and using our gym, shouldn’t they be paying a fee like every other student?” Our lead teacher Ms.Koch has made it very clear that we are not permitted to utilize the gym. Even if we were granted permission, you must be 16 years old, and no student in this school is older than 15. Also, students have never received free pizza, two occasions we were given some free treats. This was a convenience for us and we were very thankful. You seem to be confusing us with the dual enrollment students, we barely use any of FIU’s facilities and half we aren’t even allowed to use! Honestly, this article appears to be simply complaining about students and presenting negative and false information about MAST@FIU students. This group of students is an elite bunch who are privileged enough to share a facility with FIU, and would apologize if they were a “nuisance” for accurate reasoning , but when false information is being publicized about us, I don’t think it’s acceptable or fair. Before you publish articles bashing on 14 year old kids, please make sure all of your facts are facts.
To begin with, this article is full of false information that is not supported. First of all, Mast students are not allowed to use the gym, this was informed to them by the vice provost at the beginning of the year. Secondly, I guarantee you that mast students are not aware of what the FIU one card can do, I have never witnessed or heard of one using it at the food court in the cafeteria. Third, Mast@FIU’s program will never contain “thousand” students as you said in the article, it will just increase 100 students each year, meaning at most it would be 400 students. Fourth, students are not allowed to get items such as “pizza” or other types of foods from events. In fact students actually contribute to fundraising stands held after school by FIU students, by purchasing baked goods from the stands that are often set up in the afternoon in order to raise money for a good cause.
Wow very smart to say FRESHMAN CAN USE A GYM. Even smarter by saying there are thousands of MAST students there isn’t even 90 of them. You need to ask MAST students how to write a article.