The Student Fee Allocation Committee met during the week of Feb. 17 to discuss how the anticipated 3% increase in student fees would be divided. Twelve organizations went up for review, but only four are expected to receive funds. Graphic by Abby Doman.
The Student Fee Allocation Committee has wrapped up this year’s hearings to decide which organizations on campus will have increases and decreases in student funding.
Each year, the SFAC reviews student fees and makes recommendations to the board of trustees about which fees to increase or decrease in regard to each fee-funded organization. The organizations up for review this year and their increase requests are:
- Recreation, intramurals and fitness — Asking for $7, SFAC recommends $5.75
- Dixie Sun News — Asking for 50 cents, SFAC recommending $0
- Fine Arts — Asking for $4, SFAC recommending $3
- Student Center Operations — Asking for $5, SFAC recommending $2.50
- Institute of Politics — Asking for 75 cents, SFAC recommending 75 cents
- Radio and Broadcast Advertising — No change
- Athletics — No change
- New Student Center Fund — No change
- Dixie State University Student Association — No change
- Student Building Fee — No change
- IT Support — No change
- Testing Center — Asking for $0-5, SFAC recommending $0
Del Beatty, assistant vice president of student engagement and dean of students, said overall fee increases are recommended to be the same percentage as any proposed tuition increase or less.
“This year we anticipate a proposed change of around 3%, so the SFAC is very limited on what they can do,” Beatty said. “The fee requests this year far exceed what will be available. This will make it hard for them.”
One of the organizations asking for an increase is the Dixie Sun News. After its fees were at risk of being cut in half in 2018 and actually were cut by 25% in 2019, making it the lowest funded organization in the state with only 75 cents per student, the organization has asked to increase its fees to $1.25 per student.
Rhiannon Bent, assistant professor of media studies and Dixie Sun News adviser, said she was hoping the fact that she wasn’t asked to have a second hearing was good news, but the SFAC has decided not to recommend a fee increase.
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The SFAC hearings and deliberation took place from Feb. 18-21 in what Luke Kerouac, director of student involvement and leadership, said he’d describe as a long and difficult process.
“When coming to our conclusions regarding each individual fee, we as the SFAC inquired how each individual fee benefits all students,” said Student Body President Taylor Godfrey, a senior population health major from Buckeye, Arizona. “Truth in Tuition is an opportunity to gain more knowledge and insight as to what the purpose of student fees are and how they benefit all students. We as a committee and university encourage attendance and would appreciate [any] thoughts and concerns.”
There will be a Truth in Tuition meeting, which explains the SFAC’s findings to students, on March 3 from 4-5 p.m. in the Dunford Auditorium and the SFAC will make its recommendation to the board of trustees on March 13. Any decision made by the board of trustees will be enacted in the fall of 2020.
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