Two weeks is not enough time to drop a class, SIUC parking increases are too high and the four-year tuition plan with increases above the rate of inflation every year is unfair, according to some SIUC students.

At Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting, trustees approved a reduction in the amount of time students can withdraw from a class and still receive a full refund from three to two weeks, but now offer a pro-rated refund plan.

Trustees also approved increases in parking sticker fees, metered parking prices and metered parking fines.

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A four-year tuition plan with the tuition increasing above the board’s projected inflation rate all four years, covering fiscal years 1997 through 2000, was also approved by the trustees.

Rob Friederich, a radio and television major from Dundee, said the amount a time a student can withdraw from a class and still receive a full refund should be kept at three weeks.

Freshman have problems the first few weeks, Friederich said. They have enough hassle without losing a week to drop a class.

Friederich said every time something on campus needs to be improved, the students always end up paying for it.

Students always get raked over the coals, he said.

Lorna Dixon, a senior in accounting from Chicago, said two weeks is not enough time for her to decide whether or not she can handle a course.

If the class is too hard and I get a bad grade, it won’t look good on my record, she said.

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Dixon said she is not happy about the previous $10 student parking sticker increasing to $30.

I’m finally getting a car and I don’t want to pay an extra $20 just to park here, she said.

Dixon said she thinks the University gets enough of her money without raising the tuition.

This is my last year and I already owe enough in student loans, she said.

Michelle DenBeste, a graduate student in history from Carbondale, said she thinks the reduction in the amount of time students can withdraw from a class and still get a full refund is unfair.

At the University of Washington, you could drop a class until the end of the semester, she said.

DenBeste said some instructors

see REACTION, page 5