In an interview with The Rider last Thursday, UTRGV President Guy Bailey said he will review the funding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2018 submitted by the Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC).
Last spring, 55 UTRGV programs submitted funding proposals totaling $14,421,054. However, the projected student services fee revenue is $12,358,626. Projected fees are based on enrollment.
As of press time Friday, UTRGV reports showed 28,727 students enrolled. Last fall, UTRGV’s enrollment was 27,953.
“Our enrollment will be up, so the fees situation may not be quite as tight,” Bailey said. “We may be able to get back to last year’s levels for some of these things. … I always try to wait and not think about this until census day because, then, we have a better sense of the revenue.”
At UTRGV, students pay a $249.96 student services fee per long semester, which is $20.83 per hour capped at 12 credit hours.
Programs funded through the student services fee are based on recommendations of the SFAC.
Student services fees are collected for activities that are separate from academic functions and that directly benefit students. The fees help support various programs and departments across the university that serve students.
Funding requests are divided into two sections: ongoing requests and one-time requests. Ongoing are proposals that must be funded with incoming revenue, so that they are sustained by the student services fee budget. For Fiscal Year 2018, $14,298,053 was solicited for ongoing requests.
For FY 2018, the SFAC recommends allocating $7,785,934.38 to Athletics, which is 63 percent of the total allocation of student services fees.
Athletics requested $8,527,833, but the SFAC recommends a $741,898.62 reduction “in order to balance the budget and fund other student activities” supported by the committee.
According to documents obtained by The Rider, the committee is “concerned about the proportion of fees allocated to Athletics in comparison to other student programs/activities.”
The committee recommends an increase of $27,073.89 in funding for the Pep Band’s travel expenses to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
Bailey said he considers programs that build school spirit when reviewing the student services fees recommendations.
“You got Pep Band, you got Athletics, all of those things build school spirit,” the president said. “Other things that create camaraderie and build relationships among students, those are things you want to see covered by your student fees.”
Previously, funding for the Pep Band had been approved as one-time requests, but the SFAC recommends “for it to be a budgeted permanent request.”
Similar to the Pep Band, UTRGV Opera had been funded through one-time requests. However, the committee recommends $5,000 to be allocated for operatic productions.
The SFAC recommends increasing Chess’ funding by $16,880.36 and allocating $34,300 to the Hauser Communication Research Lab.
It recommended decreasing the student newspaper’s funding by $2,956 and Pulse magazine’s budget by $10,790.
Other changes include the splitting of funds from Sexual Health and Alcohol Awareness to two projects to better record transactions.
The SFAC also recommends the shifting of funding among Student Activities and Student Involvement for budgetary purposes.
Five new funding requests were submitted to the SFAC for FY 2018, but none were recommended for approval. The Student Services Center asked for $54,345; Academic Advising, $52,500; the Counseling Center-TAO, $24,000; the Residence Housing Association, $6,000; and the UTRGV Concerto Competition, $5,000.
To view the SFAC FY 2018 recommendations, click here.
The SFAC is composed of 11 individuals: nine voting, one ex officio and one chair. An ex officio is a non-voting member of a body. The SGA or Bailey appoints each member of the committee. Five members are students, selected by the SGA, and four are university employees, appointed by Bailey.
Louay Bachnak, a biology senior and Student Government Association chief of staff, and Peter Averack, a communication studies senior and SGA Edinburg vice president, were among the student representatives in the SFAC.
“There were far more requests than available funds this year and it was a great responsibility to do the best we could in distributing these funds under these heavily restricted circumstances,” Averack said. “As a student representative, I sat on the committee to answer any questions and offer any insights from a student’s perspective.”
Bachnak told The Rider the committee took into consideration how a program affects students on all UTRGV campuses and locations.
“If a project is requesting an increase, how are those increases affecting students on all the campuses?” Bachnak asked. “Are they expanding to other campuses? Or are they limiting themselves to one campus?”
Besides Averack and Bachnak, SFAC members for the 2017-2018 cycle are
–Cristina Castillo, committee chair
–Jacob Camacho, a student representative
–Joseph Rayner, a student representative
–Allison Burrola, a student representative
–Karla Loya, a university representative
–Marcela De León, a university representative
–Douglas Stoves, a university representative
–Joe Lacher, a university representative
–Frances Rivera, ex officio
Stoves, who serves as associate dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities, said the primary consideration when allocating the student services fees revenue is the impact value for students.
“The bottom line is students are paying money into these fees and we have to allocate them accordingly,” Stoves said. “One of the things I enjoy about this committee is that the majority of it is students.”
Castillo, UTRGV financial manager, said she encourages students to participate in all SFAC meetings and, if possible, become members of the committee.
“Please participate in this committee,” she said. “This committee is very important and I encourage [students] to attend the meetings and involve themselves with voicing their concerns and communicating any questions and issues they might see on their side because this committee can only involve five students.”
Castillo said students can apply to become part of the SFAC via VLink.
To download a Fiscal Year 2019 SFAC Funding Request form and view meeting dates and agendas, visit utrgv.edu/sfac.
