Op-Ed: Cleveland State University’s Decision to End U-Pass Again Will Hurt Students

Last fall, Cleveland State University decided to end their U-Pass program where
students could take advantage of unlimited use of the RTA’s bus and rail system for a
$57 charge. The university at the time claimed that it violated Ohio’s then newly passed
HB 96, which stated that special charges could not be universally applied to all
university students. However, this interpretation was clearly pretty questionable to a lot
of people, even getting a comment from Governor Mike Dewine saying this was “a
ridiculous reading of the law.” This also generated massive outrage from the 40% of
students who utilized the program as means of commuting to and from school as well
as getting around campus. Thanks to advocacy groups like Clevelanders for Public
Transit (CPT) and various other social media groups such as Viking Transit Alliance,
they were able to pressure CSU to come to the table and compromise was made where
students who actually used it would opt into the revamped U-Pass program.

Now, one year later students find themselves in the same spot. Not unlike how it ended
its campus radio station, CSU has abruptly and inexplicably ended the program yet
again, instead offering 10 emergency rides per student and afterwards letting them transfer to the standard $95 monthly passes. If CSU had a poor excuse last time, they haven’t even attempted to justify this move leaving us to speculate if this is just an excuse to cut expenses and increase parking revenue. Worse yet is the completely undemocratic manner in which the university enacted this decision to clearly avoid any pushback. While it’s totally
understandable that CSU is looking to cut costs as it is still recovering from recent
financial troubles, this trend of decision-making behind the backs of students is totally
unacceptable. What they should be doing is sitting down with students to find solutions
to continue programs while balancing the budget as well as finding new ways to
increase revenue and even attract new students. This instead will undoubtedly hurt
countless students both commuting and living on campus who will now be faced with
the costly choice of a parking pass monthly transit pass.

As a recent alumnus of the university myself, I utilized the U-Pass very frequently as a
means of getting to class while also not having to pay for the expensive parking passes
that frequently sold out. Additionally, many of my friends and fellow students who didn’t
own cars also used the U-Pass to get to campus everyday from points all over the west
and south sides. The U-Pass was also a lifeline to thousands of international students
who lived off campus around downtown and relied on it to get to class and their campus
jobs utilizing some of the best bus frequencies on the network (less than 5 mins).

With the university’s recent struggles to attract new students and as the cost of living and education continues to skyrocket, CSU now more than ever needs to support its student body.

It pains me to see my alma mater make these detrimental and poorly thought-out decisions while students pay the price both figuratively and literally. I genuinely hope the university will listen to its students and come to some sort of an agreement.