Bailey approves student services fee recommendations

Last Tuesday, UTRGV President Guy Bailey approved as presented the funding recommendations for Fiscal Year 2018 submitted by the Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC).

The student services fee revenue totals $12,985,194.

At UTRGV, students pay a $249.96 student services fee per long semester, which is $20.83 per credit hour capped at 12 credit hours.

The university estimated it would collect $12,358,626 in student services fees based on enrollment.

As of press time Friday, UTRGV reports showed 27,847 students enrolled, an increase of 284 students over Fall 2016.

The slight increase in enrollment allowed UTRGV to collect $626,568 more than what was estimated.

Nick Weimer, assistant dean for administration for Student Success, told The Rider each year the SFAC must work with projected student fee revenue.

Weimer said after the census date of every new year, the university will have the actual amount of student services fee revenue collected. Any surplus money is used to fund one-time requests and needs for the current fiscal year.

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.

To view the SFAC FY 2018 recommendations, visit utrgv.edu/sfac.

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 Student Government Association and Bailey appoint each member of the committee. Five members are students, selected by the SGA, and four are university employees, appointed by Bailey.

This year, Weimer will serve as chair of the SFAC.

“I’m very excited about [being the new chair],” he said. “I have never chaired or participated in this particular committee before, but I have been chair of quite a few other university committees in the past. … I’m excited about the opportunity to work with students, particularly. This is my first time working with a student group that gets to decide how funding is allocated, and we want to make sure that there’s a great opportunity to try to get as much funding to the areas that need them to make our services even better.”

Weimer said he hopes and expects the new SFAC members will be announced by mid-October and to have a timeline set.

“I plan to send out the SFAC forms [for FY 2019],” he said. “We’ll have our first meeting, I project, early in January as a group to begin reviewing what has been submitted.”

In an interview with The Rider last Tuesday, Student Success Vice President Kristin Croyle said she encourages students to attend the SFAC meetings and learn about its responsibilities.

“I really appreciate the student members that serve [in the SFAC],” Croyle said. “From year to year, we have amazing student members that really care about student experience and they contribute to really difficult decisions on how to best spend each dollar in making the student experience the best that we can make it.”

To download a Fiscal Year 2019 SFAC Funding Request form and view meeting dates and agendas, visit utrgv.edu/sfac.