For many, the beginning of the semester is the most stressful time of the year, especially in terms of personal finances. The current lack of assistance for membership dues could create more of a financial burden for low-income students. Students already buy essentials, pay for rent, supplies, gas, clothes and other items they need for the semester. 

Additional expenses could include costs associated with organizations and extracurricular activities. For many of these organizations, membership dues are mandatory. Unfortunately, many students may struggle to pay these fees, especially if they are looking to join multiple organizations.

UT should assist low-income students with paying for organization membership to improve extracurricular involvement and promote academic success.

Membership to these student organizations can be costly. Some organization dues are upward of $85 to $100 per year. If a student is interested in joining four organizations, this could mean they would have to pay anywhere from $340 to $400 dollars — money that could otherwise be used for necessities. Students should not have to feel discouraged from involvement in organizations by financial barriers.

Sidney Castillo, a Plan II and psychology freshman, mentioned the financial struggles she encountered while looking for organizations to join.

“My family doesn’t necessarily have that money for me to be like, ‘Okay Mom, can you give me $120 for dues for this organization,” Castillo said. “It’s definitely been a barrier, and that’s why I’m not involved in as much as I would like to be.”

Students should not have to choose between paying dues or spending that money on necessities like food. They should be focusing on being the best student they can be. By assisting low-income students with dues, the University can help relieve the financial burden that sometimes comes with becoming academically involved. This might give low-income students the opportunity to focus their sole attention on their academics. 

Kathleen Sakura Harrison, assistant director of communications from the Office of Executive Vice President and Provost addressed this concern in an email statement. 

“For students, grants are an option as they are generally need-based aid and designed to cover expenses for tuition, housing and food, books and supplies, personal/miscellaneous expenses and transportation.” Harrison said. “If a student receives a cash refund from their financial aid, they may choose to pay for organizational dues via the cash refund.”

While students who receive a cash refund may use the often small amount they get to purchase textbooks and other miscellaneous items necessary for their time on campus, these grants are not a solution. 

Grants are first applied to any outstanding tuition bills, and the remaining amount is refunded back to the student. For many students, this remainder becomes so small that it cannot cover all club membership fees.

UT needs to do better in making sure that these educational opportunities are available to all students. By covering the costs of extracurricular membership dues for low-income students, UT could promote academic involvement from students of all economic backgrounds. 

DonJuan is a Plan II and economics freshman from Quanah, TX.