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UPDATE: This post was updated at 3:29 p.m. on September 5, 2024.

When SUNY ESF students registered for classes last spring, they did not yet know that the university would introduce an Accessory Instruction Fee. The $355-per-credit fee for elective courses taken at Syracuse University went into effect for the fall 2024 semester.

The announcement first came in a July 15 campus-wide email from ESF President Joanie Mahoney that stated ESF students taking an SU course outside their major requirements would need to pay the fee. Some ESF students said the decision made them feel pressured to adjust their schedules accordingly.

“I was panicked and upset,” Jonas Eaton, a senior environmental education major, said. “We had been told and advertised that we could take 16 credits for free at SU… just for a lot of people to then be denied those credits.”

Previously, ESF students could take courses at SU at no additional cost. SU students may also register for classes at SUNY ESF for no extra cost, according to SU’s Office of the Registrar.

The decision to introduce a fee was made as part of a “five-year accessory instruction” contractual agreement between the two universities, according to Mahoney’s July email. The charge will not apply to SU courses that are required to complete an ESF major, such as general physics courses. Mahoney also said the cost of offering SU courses became “prohibitive” under the new agreement, which required ESF to introduce the new fee.

The new agreement between the two universities requires ESF to pay $750 per credit hour for each student taking classes at SU, according to a webpage for the fee. Mahoney said ESF will subsidize the fee, with the $355 rate being “deeply discounted.”

“The good news is that our students continue to have access to Syracuse University courses and we continue to welcome Syracuse University students to engage in courses on the ESF campus,” an ESF spokesperson said Wednesday. “ESF and SU have enjoyed a partnership dating back to our founding in 1911 – and that partnership remains strong today.”

Spencer Berg, a senior in ESF’s Mighty Oak Student Assembly, said he found the initial message from Mahoney to be unclear. He also said some students may have missed the initial announcement, as it was issued during a time when students were not on campus and may not be thoroughly reading their university-issued emails.

To inform students who may have missed the initial email announcement, MOSA posted an explanation of the fee and what it would mean for students to its Instagram page on July 17. In the post’s comments section, many ESF students expressed frustration and disapproval with the new fee.

MOSA then issued a second post including a letter from MOSA President Eden Gardner. In his letter, Gardner acknowledged that some students felt “blindsided” by the decision and that the assembly would work with ESF administrators to gain further clarity on the decision.

Gardner’s letter also explained that ESF’s budget deficit has been steadily increasing in recent years due to the rising costs of post-secondary education, and as a result, the university has decided to implement debt-reduction strategies. ESF’s environmentally-focused curriculums make it more expensive to attend than most SUNY schools, according to Gardner’s letter.

Berg said the longstanding relationship between SU and ESF has given students the ability to take classes outside of ESF’s environmental-focused sphere. Though students can still take classes at SU with the new fee, Berg said he feared the fee may deter students from attending ESF at all.

“It’s a huge reason why people go to ESF, is because you get this specialized education, but then you’re able to go and access a much larger catalog of academics, which makes (for) a much better, well-rounded experience,” Berg said.

Eight SU electives, including General Physics I and II, are exempt from the new charge as they are required for many ESF majors. ESF students can petition to have the fee waived using the Accessory Instruction Appeal Form, which requires students to provide substantial reasoning for taking the course. These waivers are reviewed on a case-to-case basis, Gardner said.

Gardner, who said he’s communicated with ESF administrators about the decision since its announcement, said that while the news of the fee came as a shock to many, it was actually part of a broader, five-year financial stabilization plan across several SUNY schools.

“Although it was an alarming decision, it’s one that I understand needed to happen,” Gardner said.

During Mahoney’s March 7 State of the College address, she said ESF was in a $5.4 million deficit at the time, which would likely increase due to the budget extending until June 20. ESF is also in the process of paying back a five-year, $6.45 million loan to the SUNY system, she said.

Other SUNY schools suffering from similar deficits have cut programs, entire departments and other vital resources, downsizing dramatically to decrease costs.

“You need to find the money somewhere so that we can continue to exist as a college. I would rather it be this than losing an entire department,” Gardner said. “Because we are such a small and tight-knit community and we are so specialized that losing one department … is just like losing a limb. We can’t continue to function like that.”

Since the fee was announced weeks before the fall semester’s tuition bills were due, Berg said he believes the communication and timing was the main source of students’ distress. Students had limited time to either accept the fee, withdraw from classes they could no longer afford or petition for a fee waiver, he said.

“It was clear that they had been thinking about this for a while and then decided to roll it out over the summer, at kind of, the worst time possible,” Eaton said. “I don’t think I would have been as upset if it was kind of rolled out in phases … but doing it a month before classes felt pretty disrespectful to the student body.”

ESF senior Mariam Pakbaz, an environmental studies major, said ESF approved her waiver to take PSC 304: The Judicial Process at SU. Pakbaz, who is also pursuing a minor in policy, communication and law, said she planned to take additional elective courses at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to better prepare for law school.

Pakbaz said she was in “disbelief” when she heard about the initial July announcement. She began posting on social media to express her frustration and encourage others to do the same.

“The thing with ESF is, it’s a school for people that are really passionate about the environment and about sustainability, but … the education surrounding that has to be more well rounded,” she said.

Echoing Pakbaz, several other students said part of the reason they chose to attend ESF was because of the unique ability to broaden their learning through SU classes.

Michael Zimpfer, a junior at ESF, said he had looked forward to taking SU elective classes in art and music, which he planned to save for his final year in school.

“It was a huge thing that was advertised when I was touring ESF, that students could take 16 free credits over at Syracuse University and … it was a huge factor for me coming to ESF,” he said.

Another MOSA member, sophomore Daniel Vera, ESF’s diversity, equity and inclusion liaison, said he believes students in enrichment programs, such as the Louis Stokes Alliance of Minority Participation Program and The Educational Opportunity Program, will be most affected due to their academic and financial situations.

“Many of these students who come from high schools where they didn’t offer (many elective courses) came to ESF in the hopes of being able to take advantage of those courses,” Vera said. “This new fee is posing a barrier to that higher education they were promised through these opportunity programs.”

Gardner said MOSA has been working with the administration to increase communication, learn more about the instruction fee and add potential new electives to ESF’s internal curriculum.

ESF has launched 15 new electives for this fall semester, such as Yoga and Voices of Diversity, and will continue to add courses in the spring based on student input communicated through MOSA, the ESF spokesperson said.

MOSA will host an October town hall to collect additional student feedback, Gardner said.

“I think we lose a lot, and Syracuse loses a lot, by not having this exchange of ideas and personalities, because people at ESF are a lot different than people at SU, and people at SU are a lot different than people at ESF, but having the ability to go in between, I think has made all of our experiences better,” Berg said.

Published on September 5, 2024 at 12:51 am

Contact Kate: kjacks19@syr.edu