A total of $294,000 of the ITS Student Technology Fee for technology programs was deferred Monday until the fall 2013 at the Student Technology Fee proposal meeting.
At the previous Student Tech Fee meeting March 11, about $3.38 million was proposed by ITS in the operating budget, but $4.5 million was requested from ITS.
During Monday’s meeting, the committee agreed to defer multiple programs to next year’s proposed budget, including Gear to Geaux laptops and Himes computer replacements.
Michael Smith, director of technical services, specified that these components are not canceled, but will be brought back to the fall semester after the committee knows the total number of funds returned from this fiscal year.
For instance, Robert Kuhn, interim vice chancellor and CFO, explained that if one of the deferred items is approved in the fall, such as the replacement of computers in Himes Hall, they will be installed over winter break and used in the spring.
When making the decision, Smith said the programs to be deferred were picked with careful consideration and other choices would have been to defer programs that would affect technology operations.
“These were deferments — not cancellations — that wouldn’t have an immediate effect on services,” Smith said.
Kuhn said if the Student Tech Fee has a deficit, then the fee will then begin to accumulate interest as well.
Smith proposed the plan based on the assumption that funds will be returned to the Student Technology Fund at the end of the fiscal year.
Smith said last year, $430,000 total funds were returned to the Student Tech Fee and this year, the conservative estimate is that about $267,000 will be returned.
More money could be returned as history indicates, Smith said.
“ITS expects actual returns to be more in line with the previous years,” Smith’s proposal said.
Keeping the budget balanced is important, Kuhn said, and the auditors inspected the tech fee account and gave no finding or recommendation on student tech fee funds.
“These were deferments, not cancellations, that wouldn’t have an immediate effect on services.”
