Two engineering students spoke in Student Government Association’s public forum Wednesday, bringing their concerns to the attention of Student Senate.

Their concerns ranged from having to pay extra money for classes due to increased fees in the College of Engineering, to troubles communicating with professors because of language barriers.

In Wednesday’s Shocker Blast email, the first item listed was an invitation to engineering students to attend the evening’s SGA meeting and speak in the public forum if they had concerns.

Student Body President Joseph Shepard said he wanted to have engineering students speak after he met with students in the engineering student group “Engineers Without Borders.”

“[They] contacted me and said,  ‘You know what, we’re having some problems; we don’t want to make it a big deal, but we definitely want the support system there,’” Shepard said.

Shepard said he met with the group on a Sunday evening and realized then that the concerns could stem past the group into other engineering students. He suggested having some students speak in the public forum to let SGA hear their worries.

Sen. Paige Hungate, who is an engineering major, said one concern students have is paying an extra $50 per credit hour.

“The people who are taking English 101 are taking it alongside like communications majors and others, and they’re paying $150 more for that class because they have to pay $50 extra per credit hour and I just think that’s really unfair,” Hungate said. “If you’re trying to step up your engineering department, you shouldn’t persecute the students that are coming in and declaring as an engineering major.”

SGA adviser Marché Fleming-Randle said she understands the concerns of students having to pay the additional $50 per credit hour. She said engineering students should meet with Engineering Dean Royce Bowden and talk to him about the additional fee.

“I think we need to take it the dean first, and if that doesn’t work, take it to the next level, which is [provost Anthony Vizzini], and from there, take it to [President John Bardo],” she said. “They’re doing the right thing. I was glad to see them here tonight.”

Shepard said he took notes while the two students spoke and plans to type them up and then discuss possible solutions with Fleming-Randle. He said SGA has heard those concerns several times.

“There has to be some system that we can put in place that will kind of put the ease for students,” he said. “We need to definitely make sure our students know they have a resource through Student Government Association.”