Oh it's a tax lol
They should just say that
@ionchy My final year, some big donor paid for a new athletic complex at my alma mater (including a million-dollar boardroom for the exclusive use of the Regents and a lit sign with the donor's name that could be seen across half the city). The upkeep costs were something like $100/student•year, and "coincidentally" the entire student body got a new mandatory $100/year mandatory "maintenance" fee (in the middle of a government-ordered tuition freeze). The student union was as incensed as I'd ever seen them, but the protests on the legislature lawn didn't go anywhere.
I mean it's not legally a tax but conceptually it's a tax
Same with the UPass