WWU administration admits to overcharging student fees

This story was originally written for another course at Western. Even though the reporters are not on our staff, the story has gone through our editing process and meets our standards.

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Western Washington University increased the student transportation fee more than three times the amount allowed without student approval, university Chief Financial and Business Officer Joyce Lopes acknowledged last month. As a result, students taking more than six credits were overcharged for fall and winter quarters. 

The Active Transportation Fee cannot be increased more than 5% without a vote of the student body. But in October 2023, Lopes recommended, and the Board of Trustees approved, a 16.67% increase, taking the fee from $30 to $35 per quarter.

After a student journalist questioned Lopes in December 2024 about the increase, Lopes said she brought the issue to the university’s assistant attorney general who determined the fee must be reduced. 

“We very much appreciate you bringing this to our attention so we could address it appropriately,” Lopes wrote in a Jan. 22 email to the reporter.

The Board of Trustees will vote this week about refunding students’ money, Lopes wrote in a Tuesday email. She has proposed that the fee should be $31.50 this year and $33.08 next academic year. 

“Following consultation with legal counsel, it was determined that based on the referendum voted in by the Associated Students in 2022, the Active Transportation Fee can only increase by 5% per year,” the proposal reads. 

The proposal does not address refunds.

President of the United Faculty of Washington State Bill Lyne said he was not surprised about the mishandling of the fee increase. 

“To be fair, they’ve got a lot of shit on their plate. The university is underfunded. And with all of the long dealings I've had with the administration I always say this to people, where you think evilness is at work, usually it's just incompetence … They probably didn't remember or know or bother to check that this was going on or that they had to follow this rule. So, not surprised, and wouldn't chalk it up to ill intentions just a kind of business in general and lack of competence,” Lyne said. 

Students, the AS Executive Board and the Board of Trustees first approved the transportation fee in 2007. Prior to the 2022 increase, the fee had not been increased by more than 5% within a year since it was implemented.

Students vote on the Active Transportation Fee every five years. In spring 2022, students approved increasing the fee from $28.50 to $30 per quarter beginning in fall 2022 and lasting through fall 2027. The referendum also required fee increases of more than 5% to be approved by a vote of the student body and approved by the Associated Students Executive Board.

It is unclear whether the 2023 AS Executive Board was consulted about the 16.67% increase, but one member of the board sits on the committee that voted to approve it, according to a proposal Lopes wrote for Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Keara Ryan, who served as AS president at that time, refused to answer questions, saying that she didn’t feel it was “appropriate” because she was no longer in the role. 

In a report for Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, AS President Malachi Phillips asserted that the Active Transportation Fee “was increased without the approval of the Executive Board.” In that report, Phillips raised concerns about student oversight. 

“This could very well be one of the direct reasons as to why the fee was improperly raised,” Phillips wrote.

Phillips said the administration’s raising of the fee was, “really frustrating for me. But I can also see how it is so easily occurring. When you take a look at the fees that we do have, we have quite a few fees that we don't oversee at all.” 

Lyne echoed Phillips’ sentiment about the number of fees. 

“A, that money wasn't so that they could go have a party, it was to actually pay for the transportation,” Lyne said. “And B, they probably didn't even know that there was supposed to be a vote.” 

AS Transportation Advisory Committee’s Budget Authority Andrea Reiter said the 16.67% fee increase was needed to maintain a balanced budget and to continue the Starlight Shuttle program.  The shuttle provides rides for Western students after the Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) buses cease service for the day. 

About 90% of the fee goes toward the student bus pass contract with WTA and to operate the Starlight Shuttle, with the remaining 10% going toward programs such as Bike Fest, Lock Swap, and bike registration, Reiter said.

After the contract with the former Starlight Shuttle service vendor expired at the end of last spring quarter, the university took over the service beginning this fall, said Western Director of Transportation Services Shelby Zimmerman. 

The $5 fee increase is being used to cover the start-up, operating, labor and maintenance costs of the Starlight Shuttle program, and that this was less expensive than going through a vendor, Zimmerman said. 

“I'm sure there's all kinds of little things that slip through the cracks or all kinds of things where there should have been a meeting or a vote or a process that wasn't maybe followed to the T. Stuff like that happens all the time. I don't think anybody's intentionally out to steal money or anything,” Lyne said. 

The WWU Board of Trustees will meet Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. and Friday beginning at 8 a.m. in the Garden Room at Hotel Bellwether.

Mandatory Active Transportation Fee Increases by Year 

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