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Housing fee increases have doubled this year due to the construction of the new Rieber North, Rieber West and Hedrick North residence halls.

Fees increased by 7 to 8 percent from the previous year; last year the increase was between 3 and 4 percent.

“It sucks that this huge increase had to happen. You expect fees to go up, but not this much all at once,” said second-year psychology student Richard Yi.

The reason for this increase is that the Housing Administration accumulates debt as it finances construction or renovation for residence halls, said Office of Residential Life Associate Director Jack Gibbons.

Currently the debt totals to about $210 million, with most of it due to the completed construction of Sunset Village and De Neve Plaza, said Housing Business Manager Dan Les.

The debt is expected to more than double over the next five years with the current Housing capital development plan, which includes the construction of the three new residence halls, the Weyburn Terrace Apartments and the renovations of the high-rise residence halls, Les said.

As an auxiliary organization to the university, Housing must pay for all of its expenses on its own. The revenue to pay for these costs, including debt payments, comes from rents or other charges paid by its customers. Supplemental sources are conferences, meeting room rentals, catering and vending.

Additional revenue comes from bonds – typically with a 30-year term – that are sold to the public and paid back with interest.

As long as construction continues, the debt will increase. When construction ceases, the debt will remain stable and then decrease when the bonds are paid off.

Even if all construction and renovation were stopped, it would take about 27 years to get out of debt, Gibbons said.

However, Gibbons and Les said it is unlikely that Housing will cease to be in debt.

“Given the cyclical nature of facilities renovation to update amenities and maintain the facility’s useful life, it is not anticipated that Housing would ever be ‘debt-free,’” Les said.

However, this debt was not unforeseen. Rather, the debt situation was anticipated and understood by Housing, the campus administration, student representatives and UC Regents, Les said.

Using long-term external financing to pay for capital development is a normal business practice, Les said.

The On Campus Housing Council has been told housing fees will rise yearly, but increases will probably level out at 3 to 4 percent again after the next few years, said OCHC Chairwoman Jessica Wong.

“One of our goals is to continue to work to fight fee increases as much as possible. (We are fighting) not to freeze fee increases, but to limit them as much as possible and still maintain the services and quality of residential life,” Wong said.

However, Tina Lim, a first-year physiological science student, feels that the quality of her room in Sunset Village’s Canyon Point and the services provided on the Hill are worth the cost of housing.

Like Lim, students continue to choose to live in residence halls and pay the housing fee, regardless of fee increases, instead of choosing other alternatives, such as living in apartments.

While many students enjoy the resources available to them on the Hill, some say housing fees are increasing too much in a short period of time.

“There’s always that fear that fees will go up since there’s always going to be construction here. ... You just hope it won’t be while you’re still in the dorms,” said second-year political science student John Nguyen.