ACUI Open Forum

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  • 1.  Campus Fee Process

    Posted 06-02-2022 18:13
    Hello!

    My name is Bailee Myers, and I work within the Student Affairs division at the University of Kansas. Our team here is trying to get some information about how other institutions manage their campus fee process in an attempt to inform how we might work with our Student Senate to streamline our process a bit more.

    Overall, we're looking for an overview of your process to see what best practices might exist among like institutions.

    If possible, would you be able to provide an overview of your fee allocation process?

    Specifically, we're wondering:

    • What role does your student government have in allocating student fee money? If students are involved:
      • Do they receive training on how to allocate funds from advisors or other staff?
      • Is there a tool you use to help students be objective in their decision-making?
    • What is the process for how various units receive fees (including rate increases/decreases)
    • What timeline does the institution follow in approving the following year's budget?
    • Do fee receiving units present a proposal in an attempt to communicate their needs? If so:
      • Is there a guide that is used to assist the units in creating this?
      • Who do the units present to?
    • Who is included in the chain of "decision-makers"?
    • What do you feel are the complications of your current process?
    • What do you feel are the benefits of your current process?
    • Is there anything else about your process you would like to share?

     If meeting over Zoom or talking on the phone would be easier for you, let me know. I'd be happy to schedule a time for us to connect.

    Thanks for the help!



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    Bailee Myers
    Assistant Director of Programs
    University of Kansas
    Lawrence KS
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  • 2.  RE: Campus Fee Process

    Posted 06-06-2022 11:36
    Hello Bailee.

    At Indiana University, he Student Government does not facilitate this process. We have a Committee for Fee Review, coordinated through the Dean of Students Office, that reviews proposals and recommends a fee structure every two years. They meet in the spring prior to the academic year in which the new fee amount will take effect. The student body president is one member of the committee. The Committee makes a recommendation to the Vice Provost, who endorses it and sends the recommendation to the Provost, and so on until the Trustees adopt the new fee structure.



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    Jim Johnson
    Associate Director, Student Involvement & Leadership Center
    Indiana University-Bloomington
    Bloomington IN
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Campus Fee Process

    Posted 06-07-2022 11:16
    Hi Bailee!

    When I was still at Cal State Northridge, the student government had a special committee that oversees and provide recommendation for finance requests. They would fund conference funding, clubs and org travel, and an annual budget for the following year. The committee consists of a Chair and Assistant Chair of Finance (selected by the president of that year's administration), a student representative of each college, and a Senate representative. They are advised by various personnel such as the Executive Director, Controller, Accounting Manager, and a University Advisor that oversees clubs and organizations.
    • What role does your student government have in allocating student fee money? If students are involved:
        • The student government has a special committee that makes recommendations to the Senate that on both a rolling basis and Annual Budget. The Senate will then approve, don't approve, or adjust the amount recommended, but they are the final say.
      • Do they receive training on how to allocate funds from advisors or other staff?
        • The committee does receive training on how they allocate funds but it's also mostly describe in the Code on Finance.
      • Is there a tool you use to help students be objective in their decision-making?
        • We have an annual review process on the code for changes to be made that is presented and approved to the committee which then moves to Senate for final approval.
    • What is the process for how various units receive fees (including rate increases/decreases)
      • This varies from year to year but there is a base rate they provide for requests for all clubs and orgs. There are many considerations, but they are moving away from using prior year's funding usage as a guideline. The increases are based on the projection of enrollment so it could either remain the same or increase.
    • What timeline does the institution follow in approving the following year's budget?
      • The committee meets over the winter break (typically the week before school) they usually spend the whole week from 8-5 holding Annual Budget hearings by a representative of the clubs and orgs going over their budget for the next year.
      • Each committee member prepares a recommendation of their own to bring into the regular finance committee meeting. 
      • The committee usually finalizes the budget before spring break and usually approved in April. Keep in mind the committee does meet weekly from 1:00-4:00 PM, and has to make decisions on those rolling finance requests and as many Annual Budget requests as possible.
    • Do fee receiving units present a proposal in an attempt to communicate their needs? If so:
      • Is there a guide that is used to assist the units in creating this?
        • Yes! Clubs and orgs (and some campus departments) fill out a form that shows what and how much they are requesting, how much they need for their event in total (this includes items that may or may not be fundable, it just gives the committee a bigger picture of what they need), if there are any other sources of funding
        • The more recent committees have provided a video discussing the process to offer help and transparency in the process.
    • What do you feel are the complications of your current process?
      • Before the committee was more flexible with numbers such as using prior funding usage and other factors, it now has changed since there has been more fears about unfair funding practices by other institutions. The hard and fast base budget created an equitable baseline for the student needs.
    • What do you feel are the benefits of your current process?
      • Having a two step process I think helps both the Senate and the Committee, the Senate knows the Finance Committee has done their due diligence before providing a recommendation. The practice also makes request funding easier. 
    • Is there anything else about your process you would like to share?
      • When doing Code on Finance reviews, they are always bringing to the table about gaps the students are facing when it comes to funding such as: Why are we still unable to fund these items? But with time and funding changes, they've been able to create some of these changes by creating new programs in order to meet these gaps. The process is and will always be for students, by students.
    Links for more information: 
    Finance | California State University, Northridge (csun.edu)
    Annual Budget | California State University, Northridge (csun.edu)


    If you have any other questions, I am more than happy to share and connect you!

    Best,

    ------------------------------
    Abigail Garcia
    Marketing Instructional Assistant
    University of Houston
    Houston TX
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  • 4.  RE: Campus Fee Process

    Posted 06-07-2022 12:59
    Since I'm at UW-Platteville, much of my information will be the same as Jean's at UW-Oshkosh. 

    I will speak directly to the Allocable Segregated University Fees because that is the part of the process I work with most directly. 
    • What role does your student government have in allocating student fee money?
      • Yes. As required by UW-System policy. They have the most impact regarding decisions on the allocable segregated fees.
    • If students are involved:
      • Do they receive training on how to allocate funds from advisors or other staff?
        • Yes. From myself and their Administrative Liaison. 
      • Is there a tool you use to help students be objective in their decision-making?
        • We build it into the process. We have a document that shows them what to look for in a budget request. If there is something that is not allowed to be funded, they remove that amount. Then they apply the appropriate Trends or Caps per category. They vote on what the trend or cap should be. Also in the training a huge part of it is focused on being view point neutral and why that is imperative for them (I normally mention the Southworth Supreme Court case). 
    • What is the process for how various units receive fees (including rate increases/decreases)
      • This is normally decided by category or line item to make the budget balance. For example using easy numbers, lets say they have $400,000 to allocate and $800,000 was requested, they would make the trend by 50% of your budget is funded. In reality the process is first remove what we have to pay for, i.e. the student gov salaries have to be funded in full. Remove that amount from what is left available to allocate and then figure out the percentage that gets us to balance. Also what Jean said here. 
    • What timeline does the institution follow in approving the following year's budget?
      • Same as Jean. With the budgets for the next fiscal year normally being due near the end of September. Then in October our SUFAC meets with each group to clarify any questions they have about the budget, generally to sort of if an item is fundable or not. Then in November they make the motions for specific allocation amounts. Then because SUFAC is separate and equal on our campus, then the Student Senate votes to endorse or deny the budget. Then in the Spring the Chancellor signs off on it. Since I've been doing this, Senate and the Chancellor have always approved the budget SUFAC puts forward. 
    • Do fee receiving units present a proposal in an attempt to communicate their needs? If so:
      • Is there a guide that is used to assist the units in creating this?
        • It's a part of the required Student Organization Training held in fall to explain the process and how to make a budget. See answer above. 
      • Who do the units present to?
        • See answer above with timeline. 
    • Who is included in the chain of "decision-makers"?
      • Students who sit on SUFAC. See Jean's answer.
    • What do you feel are the complications of your current process?
      • Agree with Jean, the challenge really relates to students having to make plans regarding funding a full year out. 
    • What do you feel are the benefits of your current process?
      • Viewpoint neutrality is adhered to extremely well. This is also further enhanced here because of our SUFAC being a separate body from our Student Senate. That way the Commissioners only have to focus on being view-point neutral in funding decisions, they don't have to balance the advocacy purpose in Student Senate. 


    ------------------------------
    Becky Hass
    Involvement Coordinator-Student Organizations
    University of Wisconsin–Platteville
    Platteville WI
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Campus Fee Process

    Posted 06-07-2022 11:23
    Hi Bailee,
    At the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, the fee process has a connection to our student government in that they appoint students to serve on all campus committees.  Attached is a PowerPoint I presented to the Chancellor's Cabinet a couple years ago, since several of them were new.  It gives an overview of the process.  We have two committees:  Segregated Fee Committee which distributes non-allocable funding. These funds are given to university departments.  The second committee is the Allocations Committee, which distributes allocable funding. These funds are given to student organizations.  Below, I will respond to the answers for the Allocations Committee.  If you would like more information about the Segregated Fee Committee, let me know.
    • What role does your student government have in allocating student fee money? If students are involved:
      • Do they receive training on how to allocate funds from advisors or other staff? The Allocations committee is made up of students (1 year term), faculty, academic staff, and university staff (three-year terms). The last couple of years due to COVID, the committee has had difficulty recruiting members. The committee does receive a training on Viewpoint Neutrality. The committee also has a Policies & Procedures Manual that gives an overview of what the committee will fund and won't fund.  As enrollment has gone down over the years, the amount of fees available to distribute has gone down.  Therefore, the committee needed to modify the PPM in order to make the system fair and to stay within budget. There is an example in the PowerPoint where the committee needed to change their PPM to only allow travel funding for 4 students per year, no matter the size of the org.
      • Is there a tool you use to help students be objective in their decision-making? Attached is a training that was done by UW System Legal in 2011 on Viewpoint Neutrality.  The training for the committee is based on this PowerPoint, but some of the legalese is taken out. Please note that there was a court case in 2000 (Southworth) that outlines what is required for fee disbursement at colleges & universities. It is described in the PowerPoint.
    • What is the process for how various units receive fees (including rate increases/decreases)  Each student org needs to submit their budget and justify it every year.  According to the Southworth case, funding can't be based on the prior year to be viewpoint neutral.  Just because they were funded $5,000 last year doesn't mean they will be funded $5,000 this year. 
    • What timeline does the institution follow in approving the following year's budget? Student orgs need to submit their budgets in fall semester for the next fiscal year (e.g. submit in fall of 2021 for the 2022-23 school year).  The committee does allow for one-time funding requests during the year, but they have a limit on the amount. This allows the committee to submit a budget based on actual budgets as opposed to estimates.  If an org doesn't spend all their funding, it is swept up and used for future years. 
    • Do fee receiving units present a proposal in an attempt to communicate their needs? If so:
      • Is there a guide that is used to assist the units in creating this? Each student org submits a budget request and a narrative to the Allocation Committee that explains their mission and how they will use the funds.  
      • Who do the units present to? Units are given the option to make a presentation to the Committee. If a group is requesting a small amount, they may choose not to make a presentation.  There is also an appeals process if a group doesn't agree with the funding given.
    • Who is included in the chain of "decision-makers"?  The Allocations Committee is allowed to make decisions on the funding of the student orgs.  It is stated in UW System policy that students have the final decision on allocable funding.  If push comes to shove, a group could ultimately appeal it to the UW System Board of Regents. The non-allocable funding process is different in that the committee is making a recommendation to the Chancellor.  The Chancellor has the final say, however, in my 22 years at UWO, the Chancellor has always approved the Committee's recommendation. 
    • What do you feel are the complications of your current process? Because student orgs need to budget a year ahead of time, they often don't have details and have to make estimates on their funding needs. We provide training on how to budget since this isn't a normal skill for students.  There often is turnover of student org leadership each year, so the new students are using a budget they didn't personally request. Some UW System schools don't have budget requests turned in a year ahead of time.  They allow groups to request funding the current year on a first come, first served basis. This can be detrimental to newer groups who form and may not get funding if the money runs out.  
    • What do you feel are the benefits of your current process? I believe the committee is able to maintain viewpoint neutrality in their current process. The PPM helps them to make decisions that are fair.  Here is a link to the current PPM: https://uwosh.edu/sac/wp-content/uploads/sites/108/2022/03/SAC-PPM-2020.pdf  Here is a link to their Bylaws: https://uwosh.edu/sac/wp-content/uploads/sites/108/2019/10/Allocations-Bylaws-10.11.19-2.pdf  Here is a link to their forms: https://uwosh.edu/sac/forms/
    Let me know if you have additional questions or if you'd like to meet via the phone or virtually.

    Have a great day,
    Jean

    Jean Kwaterski, MBA
    Certified Auxiliary Services Professional (CASP)
    Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Life
    Division of Student Affairs 
    University of Wisconsin Oshkosh 
    748 Algoma Blvd., Reeve Memorial Union, Room 104 
    Oshkosh, WI  54901    
    920-424-3407
     
    Pronouns:  She/Her/Hers
    Past-President of NACAS, www.nacas.org

                
     
    Responsibility~Harmony~Relator~Arranger~Maximizer