NEARLY A THOUSAND students at UMass Boston are receiving a significant discount on their MBTA passes this semester, thanks largely to subsidies provided by their classmates.
Students voted in April to hike the mandatory student activity fee by $20 a semester ($40 for the year), with the directive that the money be used to reduce by 50 percent the cost of an MBTA pass offering unlimited bus and subway rides. Students currently pay $320 for a four-month semester pass (11 percent off the full price). The 50 percent reduction would reduce the price of the four-month pass to $180, a savings of $140 a semester.
The discounted passes for the fall semester were offered on a first-come, first-served basis until the $200,000 raised by the fee ran out.
The money ran out quickly. DeWayne Lehman, a spokesman for UMass Boston, said 974 students had qualified for the 50 percent discount as of Monday afternoon and a few more may be added over the next few days. (CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated DeWayne Lehman’s name.)
The numbers mean 10,000 students paid the $20 semester fee and only 1,000 were able to take advantage of the 50 percent discount. UMass officials estimate about half of the school’s students commute on the T.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
UMass officials described the vote on the fee in April as a student-led and approved ballot referendum. The vote was close, with the proposed fee to support an MBTA fare reduction passing by a margin of 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent, according to the student newspaper
massmedia. Only 588 students voted on the ballot question, the newspaper reported.
The scramble for the heavily discounted T passes will take place against next semester, when that semester’s $20 fee is assessed.
