Rebuttal Letter

Ms. Ludwick,

Before complaining about having to use the gym facilities at North Lake College, please do the math on your stated figures for comparing us to Tarrant County College. Your tuition at Tarrant County was $16 a credit hour more than the DCCCD. Our tuition, at $30 an hour, also includes the lab fees you said you had to pay at TCC. You also do not pay for parking here. Already you have a HUGE bargain, the way I do my math. Let’s assume for a moment that you are only taking one three-credit hour class. That amounts to a minimum $48 difference between TCC and DCCCD. If you pay the $40 fee to use the gym facilities for three months (almost a semester’s length), you are still walking away with at least $8 in your pocket that would have gone to TCC.

I, for one, am glad that the gym fee is a separate charge. For classroom usage I do not mind paying a fee. Indeed, as many colleges include, I would not even mind a technology fee. However, why should I pay for the gym facilities if I am not using them? If I want to use them, I’ll gladly pay the $40 quarterly fee — much less of a fee than going to a private health club and paying their membership fees and monthly dues! Please be glad that you do have the array of services that your $30 a credit hour provides instead of complaining about a lack of services you think should be provided. You may want to pay more for your education, but I prefer to keep my costs to an absolute minimum.

— Lisa Zimmerman
Associate Registrar