Universities nationwide have faced numerous problems getting the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System up and running, and now the University of Wisconsin has run into yet another obstacle that some are saying can only be corrected by a small fee, to be paid by foreign students.

The SEVIS system was implemented earlier this year to track international students studying in the United States and to gather data such as personal information, academic status and fields of study.

Universities rushed to get systems up and running to meet the proposed deadlines, and yet, three months after the original deadline, the system was still incomplete nationwide. This was just one obstacle faced over the course of the year.

Beginning next fall, all international students will be required to pay $50 per semester to supplement the costs to run the service effectively. UW educates 3,700 international students who will all be required to pay the fee.

“We realized that in order to provide the quality of services necessary, more staff was needed,” Interim International Student Services Director Judy Brodd said, emphasizing that the fee students will be required to pay is not a direct SEVIS fee but rather a fee that will be used to provide additional services to students.

According to Brodd, administrators did not want to implement such a fee but were left few options because of the current state budget crisis.

“[The fee] is really tied to SEVIS and the fiscal solution,” said Brodd, who also noted displeasure among administrators at UW.

“This was not a happy decision,” Brodd said.” We are not jumping up and down about it.”

However, she also noted there have been 32 new regulations implemented since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that require much attention. The 9/11 attacks are also what sparked the creation of the federally mandated system.

“[The fee] is not a happy solution … but it is a solution,” Brodd said, asking anyone with better ideas to bring them forward.