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SBOE denies fees

Written by Savannah Cummings - Argonaut

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

The Idaho State Board of Education cut the University of Idaho’s student fee proposal by almost 3 percentage points Monday afternoon, frustrating students and faculty who worked on the proposal. The proposed 7.94 percent increase was cut to 5 percent, which will mean slicing around $1 million from UI’s activities and matriculation budget, said ASUI President Jon Gaffney. While the Board has cut UI’s proposals for the last several years, Vice President of Finance and Administration Lloyd Mues said before the meeting that the increase was defendable. “I can defend this proposal to the teeth,” he said. Because UI was the last school to present its proposal, Gaffney said hope for approval was weak. All five proposals from Idaho public colleges were cut except Lewis-Clark State College, who was left at its 5 percent request, he said. “We still had that last bit of hope,” Gaffney said. “That hope was pretty well torn to shreds.” Idaho State University’s proposal was cut from 7 percent to 6 percent, making it the most expensive public school in the state. “That shows you just how arbitrary this was,” Gaffney said. Boise State University requested a 6.1 percent increase, which was lowered to 5 percent. Eastern Idaho Technical College requested a 3.1 percent increase, which was lowered to 2 percent. ASUI Sen. Kelby Wilson wasn’t happy with the Board’s decision. “I feel like we were ignored,” he said. “I feel like we have a presentation and give it to them and no consideration is made. … we’re not told where to cut or how to cut, we’re just given a flat 5 percent. It’s quite frustrating.” Mues took a more positive approach to the change. “The State Board is an interesting entity,” Mues said. “Their wisdom was that we did not need as much as we asked for. My job is to make sure that what they do allocate to us is put to good use.” The 2.94 percent decrease amounts to about a $1 million less per year, Mues said. The university will have to figure out where to make adjustments before the budget is finalized. Mues said there is no firm deadline for the budget, but would like to have it done soon. “We have budget deadlines every week of some nature,” he said. “We would like to get out to our leadership as soon as possible what it is that they can anticipate receiving.” Wilson said he doesn’t want to see cuts made to the 10 increases in dedicated student fees, which was already paired down as much as it could be. One of the proposals was a 55 cent increase to the spirit squad so it doesn’t have to pay for its own uniforms, Wilson said. It will likely be cut. “That’s 55 cents,” he said. “Most of us have 55 cents in our pocket.” The 7.94 percent proposal would have added about $350 per year to the current student fee of $2,205. If the increase had been approved, UI still would have cost less than its peer institutions, Gaffney said. “We argued that people can afford that,” he said  Mues said the SBOE acted in the interests of the state and the taxpayers and UI will recover. “Now I’ve got to figure out how to make 5 (percent) work,” he said. “The sky is not falling. We are fine. We will be fine. We’ll have great classes and great students next year.” The Board will have its next meeting on April 17-18 in Moscow. For information about the meeting, visit www.boardofed.idaho.gov. Add as favorites (28) | Views: 361 Be first to comment this article Write Comment Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code. Name: Title: Comment: