Tuition, books, rent and groceries — University of Idaho students dig into their pockets to pay a lot of expenses during their college careers, including approximately $535 per semester in Student Activity Fees.
“It’s a very common fee that lots of public universities have,” ASUI President Samantha Perez said. “There are about 30 departments that get funded from that fee — they are either fully or partially funded by that fee.”
Perez said athletics, the Student Recreation Center and ASUI are just three examples of departments that receive funding.
“We don’t have to pay for game tickets because we have a fee for athletics and what’s called the ASUI Kibbie Dome — if that makes sense. And then for the rec center you just swipe your Vandal Card to get in. So those are the things that we agreed on that students would pay for, but receive services from,” Perez said.
Departments are required to address the Student Activity Fee Committee, which is made up of four ASUI members, two Graduate Professional Student Association (GPSA) members, and one Student Bar Association (SBA) member, to request funding or increased allocation.
“In the past we’ve never looked at any of these that get (money annually) — it’s just kind of a rollover — they just get the fees they’ve always received,” Perez said.
Perez said she worked on ASUI’s budget committee last year and only departments requesting increases were evaluated.
“In the fall we are going to do kind of an audit of every single department that receives funding. So everybody will have to present us with very specific guidelines,” Perez said. “They have a financial template they have to follow and a series of questions that they’ll have to answer after the presentation.”
Each department has 30 minutes to present its requests to the committee. After each presentation, the committee will then ask in-depth questions about what specific activities are being funded and how those funds will benefit students.
Perez said if the fees are deemed unnecessary, the departments will lose funds.
“It’s actually required in the ASUI rules and regulations that we do this process, but for some reason it’s just never happened and I think that’s because it’s really political,” Perez said.
“These are departments that depend on this funding. If that funding is cut then that department will cease to exist and it can be kind of scary. We take this job seriously and the committee is really dedicated. We have no agenda, we’re very unbiased, we just really want to hear about these departments and make sure they are benefiting students.”
The student activity fees are only a small part of the overall fee package each student pays, Dean of Students Bruce Pitman said.
“Student governments will have a say not only in what worthy projects get funded but also how much they get funded,” Pitman said. “Over the last 10 years we’ve had a process where entities on campus could come to the student fee committee and master money and make their presentation to support the request — presentation to fund good causes.”
Pitman said very little money has been spent on student activity fees in the last three to four years, and student governments have worked closely with the UI administration to solve financial challenges and budget cuts.
Keith Ickes, executive director of budget planning, said the process of reviewing student activity funds can be really difficult if it’s not started early in the year, which is why he believes ASUI will be successful with the review because they have a head start.
“Samantha and I had the conversation about this last spring,” Ickes said..”And we were looking at the overall tuition and fee proposal to the state Board of Education.”
Some of the programs were put in place years ago while others haven’t been implemented until recently. Ickes said it’s a good idea for the SAF committee to see how relevant those programs still are.
“The activities are ASUI managed functions, if you will, and to the extent that students engaged in electing their student incentives. Students should have some understanding of what their view is,” Ickes said.
This is an opportunity for the student body at large to have some input, Ickes said.
“A lot of times your fee reviews are going to be done by the people who manage those specific fees. Generally they think they managed them for a good reason. So it’s a potential for other students on campus to weigh in and say ‘Well actually, it’s low on my priority,'” he said.
Students put more than $1,000 each year into the Student Activity Fees fund, which Ickes said is a significant amount of money. He said it’s important for the funds to be reviewed, but also for students to be knowledgeable about where the funds go.
“The students have a fairly direct voice on how this money is being spent and the other reason you ought to be concerned is because it’s your money,” Pitman said. “I’m very pleased that we are doing this. I think that the state Board of Education will be very pleased. Even if there is not a nickel moved from one fee source to another, I think that the student government is taking a very good responsible approach to look how the money is currently being spent before we go into a new fee cycle.”
As of now, students have already paid their $535 and the new cycle won’t begin until Fall 2012, Perez said.
“We’ll present the new recommendation in April to the state Board of Education,” Perez said. “The seven members of that committee decide where the money goes, and then President Nellis approves the overall number. It’s really cool that students have the power and the opportunity to decide where this funding goes,” Perez said.
After ASUI completes this process, Jacob Marsh, ASUI senator, has an open forum planned. The open forum is for students to hear about where their money is going and what ASUI has learned through the review process.
“We’re going to share all the presentation materials with the students that come in. We’re going to listen to their feedback and see what they want to be funded and what they don’t and we’ll take that into consideration for our final decision,” Perez said.