Starting this year, nursing students can expect ice cream trucks and catering during orientation week.
The Nursing Student Society (NSS) is bumping their mandatory orientation fee by 816.7 per cent this school year from $2.70 to $22, revealed the Student Ancillary Fees report to the Board of Trustees on May 10.
Faculty societies splitting orientation costs among a larger number of students kept their fees in the single digits this year, with the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) at $2.75 and Health Science Society (HSS) at $5.
“Although a lot of our events are pretty similar to previous years, our aim is to try and make it more [financially] accessible to new students,” said Emmy Lind, Nurs ’26 and nursing orientation coordinator, in an interview with The Journal.
The orientation fee was increased to offset and hopefully reduce the registration fee—a price nursing students must pay to participate in orientation event, Lind explained.
Lind couldn’t promise a reduction of the $145 registration fee, but the goal remains to reduce the price. The registration fee this year will be decided by the Nursing Orientation Committee and Orientation Roundtable (ORT) in mid-July.
Lind’s team decided to introduce new orientation events such as “Treats and Talent,” featuring a talent show and ice cream truck, driving up the orientation fee. Catering food in-between orientation events is a large expenditure also contributing to the fee increase, Lind added.
“We’re just trying to facilitate a better experience overall and obviously when you’re provided with money you can do the best with what you’re given,” Lind said in an interview with The Journal.
Popular orientation events with a hefty price tag, such as the nursing boat cruise and coverall painting will be hosted in September, Lind said.
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