Fullerton College Associated Students have agreed after discussion with teachers, faculty and students to propose making the A.S. benefit fee mandatory for all enrolled students.

When students pay for the fee they can receive discounts on food at the FC Cafeteria, restaurants around Fullerton and at the FC bookstore. Students also get free food at school events and free admission to the football games.

A.S. receives most of their budget from students that pay for the A.S. benefits but were forced to cut their budget by $13,000 this year due to a lack of participation.

The problem the A.S. sees from the student body is a lack of understanding what the A.S. even does.

However, the A.S. has done a poor job of convincing the student body why paying such fees are in the student’s interests.

If you are judging the effectiveness based on how much students are contributing then they have already decided that they find the A.S. unnecessary.

Now this may not be the whole truth, but without making a strong case, it would be hard for the student body to support this. Luckily for the A.S. it may no longer be up to them.

A.S. is trying to find ways to fund and co-sponsor events that are held by the clubs and other campus organizations such as the Halloween Contest, Kippepeo Benefit Concert, Dia De Los Muertos, WorldFest and others.

These events are mostly paid by A.S. and Inter-Club Council and without more money coming in FC would not be able to enjoy these social, and to some, culturally significant events on campus.

A.S. also helps fund the A.S. Carebank where they provide food, gas money, and other items for students that need financial support. With A.S. cutting their budget they won’t be able to provide as much support for the students that need it.

This mandatory fee would also allow A.S. to provide scholarships for the student body, currently maxed $100 each, but with more funds that are received the higher that money could rise.

Over the Winter Session Vice President Joshua Kleinbergs, who brought this proposition up, will be working on a proposal along with President Joey Victor and Treasurer Alex Trigueros to be given to the Vice President of Student Affairs Toni DuBois for approval and then continue to the district board to be approved.

This fee would remain at its current price of $8.50 and is one of the lowest student activities cost within the 14 colleges in the district.

Orange Coast College charges their students a $21 fee each semester and Mount Sac charges $11.

Nine out of the 14 colleges in our district charge every student for these fees.

Kleingbergs has already contacted Cypress Community College Associated Student President Jazmine Lee to work alongside Cypress to get this fee approved.

Students may be given the option to not pay for the fee due to a religious or personal issue but they would have to clear that with Admissions and Records.

But the bottom line is if the A.S. wants to make collecting money from students mandatory, they need to be more out there about what that money is being used for.