In a classic case of “we have bad news and we have good news” regarding fee increases, Chancellor Gora announced on December 10 that the parking fee increase to $5 on January 1, 2002, will be lowered to $4. Her decision followed quickly in the wake of a UMass Board of Trustees vote to implement a $350 Curriculum Trust Fund fee increase for the Spring 2002 semester.

“Since the board has approved this $350 fee, which will be a curriculum fee, I am going to recommend a $4 parking fee as opposed to a $5 fee,” Gora stated.

The administration’s original parking fee plan, announced in a campus-wide bulletin on December 7 by Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance David MacKenzie, called for a $5 charge on January 1, 2002, a $6 charge on January 1, 2003, a $7 charge on January 1, 2004, and additional increases of five percent in succeeding years.

The new plan calls for a $4 fee this coming January, $5 on January 1, 2003, and $6 on January 1, 2004. The plan to raise fees five percent after that date has been scrapped.

“It was the Chancellor’s decision,” said MacKenzie. “Given the circumstances where we needed to increase student fees, we thought it was too much of an increase in the parking