A recent discussion between Student Government President Cassie Alsfeld and a Student Health Center administrator resulted in the unofficial request for another student fee increase. This may not surprise students critical of bearing the financial burden of another fee increase in the looming aftermath of the approved Student University Recreation Complex fee. Arthur Goulas, Student Health Center director, said he approached Alsfeld about meeting with the Student Required Fee Committee to present a formal request for the fee increase. The discussion comes less than one month after the implementation of the $20 Student Health Center fee increase initially approved in 2006. A formal proposal has not been presented to the committee or Alsfeld, the SRF Committee chair. But Goulas said when he updates the committee on the center’s current financial situation, he intends to present a formal request. “We are waiting on Cassie to tell us when, and then we will decide how much,” he said. Alsfeld said while she ideally wanted to meet with the SRF Committee this week, they will not meet until next week at the earliest. According to the committee’s original agenda, a proposal on behalf of the center should not come as a surprise – it’s the Student Health Center’s turn for financial review by the committee. Alsfeld said the health center is on schedule in appearing before the committee during the 2007-2008 fiscal year. “If they need one [fee increase], then we will take a look at that,” Alsfeld said. Goulas explained a fee increase in the near future is necessary, though not urgent, to maintain the current level of service offered to students in the face of inflation. He also said because the auxiliary service is exempt from federal financial assistance, he thinks the SRF Committee is necessary. “I think [the fee increase] is going to be reasonable, but what may be reasonable to me may not be reasonable to you,” he said. This all falls back on who ultimately decides what is reasonable – the SRF Committee. The SRF Committee, created on June 1, 2006, by Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, assesses when and by how much an auxiliary service receives a fee increase. Composed of more than 10 student and faculty positions, the committee reviews fees responsible for funding four auxiliary services. Because they are not academic institutions, the state legislature does not allocate money necessary to sustain the UREC, the Student Health Center, the Student Union and on-campus parking. The committee cycles through a four-year rotation and addresses the needs of one auxiliary service each fiscal year. But Union fee increases and the latest UREC fee increase recommendation made in December 2007 by the SRF Committee did not follow the initial review schedule set up during the committee’s creation. The Union was originally on the agenda to appear during the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Instead, a Union fee increase was passed by the Board of Supervisors in 2007 and is set to increase for full-time students from $60 in spring 2008 to $89 in fall 2009. A department is allowed to appear before the committee outside its scheduled review date based on special circumstances, as in the Union’s case. SG Vice President Josh King said O’Keefe created the committee to regulate fee increases and avoid loading students with a large financial burden all at once. But some auxiliaries faced steep deficits before the committee’s creation and failed to pass fee increase recommendations during their scheduled year. Now, students will have to pay the increased inflation costs as some auxiliaries continue to fall deeper into debt. Alsfeld said a lot of controversy surrounded the committee’s creation because it took away some powers of the student body and gave these powers to the committee. She said students were not approving enough fee increases to cover mandated costs of critical infrastructure. She also said unless money can be generated by outside sources, fee increases are the only means to give money to these services. “Fee increases were getting larger and larger because of inflation,” Alsfeld said. “Since we didn’t have something like this in place in the past, people weren’t prepared for rising costs associated with inflation. So a lot of facilities wound up going into debt. The UREC is in the red, and that is frightening.” The last time the UREC received a fee increase was 2002. Following the SRF Committee creation, the UREC was initially scheduled to appear before the committee during the 2006-2007 fiscal year. But the committee failed to pass a fee increase recommendation. “The UREC should have come up last year,” Alsfeld said. “Now a year later, just in one semester, it pushes up the numbers exponentially. It should have been about $15 originally.” The fee increase recommendation has since doubled to $30. Alsfeld said student services would be cut without the fee increase. According to the committee agenda, on-campus parking is set financial review by the committee in the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Alsfeld said this does not automatically mean students should expect a fee increase. She said the services will appear before the committee to check their progress. “An auxiliary service can come up anytime there is a committee meeting,” she said. “They are encouraged to show progress whether it is their turn to come up or not.”
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]