Coronavirus is at an all-time high, and for fellow college students, our debt is higher. Tuition fees, housing fee, dining fees, and travel fees bombard students with high fees. On top of these fees and the negative impact of the pandemic, UC Davis has so many extraneous fees. I want to talk about the New Student Orientation! 

   The Aggie Orientation is hosted before classes start in September, where students get a feel of the college environment. That was before the pandemic. After the pandemic hit, Davis announced that the Orientation is online. Everyone's biggest question is "WHY IS IT $595?"

  The $595 covered campus tours, foods, and other facilities used for in-person orientation. It also covered for the online Aggie 101 and maybe even the first Advisor meeting. However, Aggie Orientation is online and the event is a 9 Hour Zoom call. What are they going to show? A virtual tour of Davis that is already free on the main page? How to use the Davis website which is not too hard? 

  All of this CAN BE FREE, or at the very least A CHEAPER COST. Let's look at other colleges:

• UCI: FREE for all
• UCSC: FREE for all
• Merced: $50 for all
• Riverside: FREE for freshmen, $90 for transfers
• UCSB: $240 for freshmen, $110 for transfers
• UCLA: $240 for freshmen, $135 for transfers
• Davis: *$595 for all*

** fees for these colleges are a subject to change but their fee reduction has been confirmed nonetheless**

First of all, 9 hours is way too long of a Zoom session. Secondly, if all the other colleges even outside of the UC System can reduce prices, why cannot we? 

Families are struggling to make and save money during Covid-19. Students are struggling to decide whether or not to sacrifice quality education just because of ridiculously high fees! So please if you can hear the students and family, help us out! During a pandemic, we have to help each other out rather than bring each other down!