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The Student Voice Since 1903
NOVEMBER 2, 1999
University's shuttle bus service scheduled for permanent stop By Trent Dugas
Staff ttt / s $500 per week worth your convenience and ‘ safety? Not according to Auxiliary Enterprises. UCO is terminating its contract with the Metro Transit shuttle service. The buses will stop rolling on Nov. 3, just before the inclement weather season. The shuttle service served as a transportation link for students who parked in distant parking spaces or lived near the bus route. UCO hoped the service would help ease the parking problem. Robert Lindley, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises and Economic Development, said the $500 per week cost for running the shuttles is a "waste of money," because nobody utilized the buses. "This service was launched on a temporary basis last spring
when construction of the University Commons made a serious dent in campus parking," Lindley said. "Now that the construction is complete and many of the lost parking spaces have been returned to service, the usage of the shuttle has declined dramatically." Students are still short about 200 spaces because of the construction of the Commons, according to Leon Fourcade, manager of university parking services. Students who are temporarily disabled are also affected by the terminated shuttle service. Parking in Wantland Stadium is a long walk to campus for disabled students. Lindley said UCO is current on all handicap parking regulations. Kathy Ball, bus operator for the Oklahoma City Metro Transit, said most of her passengers ride in the morning. She said a factor that should be
considered is handicapped people. Usually, the handicapped people she picks up are on crutches. "I picked up one this morning," she said. She said a possible alternative to terminating service is trying other bus routes around campus. Ball, a former bus driver at the University of Oklahoma (OU), said their bus routes include covering a large distance from campus. OU's shuttle service drives off campus to area apartment complexes, and sorority and fraternity houses, she said. "I think maybe if it (UCO's bus) went out by the sororities and the stuff over there then we might have more riders," Ball said. She believes since UCO is striving to be like other universities in Oklahoma, with
'V See BUS, Page 2
—Photo by Landon Salyer
Trick-or-treat... Sue McCauley, coordinator of child study center, watches as children from the morining class trick-or-treat in the Student Center on Thursday morning.
UCO's tuition less than national average, professor says By Trent Dugas
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ore tuition increases may be on the way for UCO students. The Oklahoma State Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has proposed a plan to raise tuition costs over a five year period. Dr. Tom Guild, UCO general business professor and AAUP state conference president, said Oklahoma is below the national average in tuition cost. "Out of state funds in Oklahoma, the entire public
system of higher education, and not just UCO, the students pay about 25 percent of the cost of their education," Guild said. taxpayers of "The Oklahoma pay about 75 percent." He said raising tuition costs for students to 33 and a third percent is not irrational because the taxpayers still pay the rest. "So either way, the taxpayers are going to be picking up a vast majority of the cost," Guild said. "But we are just thinking that since the students are the ultimate beneficiary of the
salary increases for faculty The $2 million increase the would help UCO students members since university is "behind" in better access a college education, Guild said. Any time you raise the those areas, Guild said. "Anytime you raise the cost To offset the increased cost ...some students tuition rate, AAUP is also to the students then there are have a hardship proposing a raise in the going to be some students who Oklahoma Tuition Aid will have a hardship from this," from this. Grant (OTAG) for 2000- Guild said. "Those would be low and 2001. AAUP is requesting a $2 moderate income students from Dr. Tom Guild million increase in low and moderate income general business professor conjuction to the already families." He said if OTAG is $56 million increase increased, then UCO students proposed by the Oklahoma education they receive, that it's will benefit the most. not unreasonable to ask them Legislature. The goal is to create a Guild said the increase to pay a third of the cost." Increased money in the would not cover everything "cushion" for students who educational system will help needed for higher education might have a hardship paying the increased fees, Guild said. UCO with technology and but it will help. —