The Student Fee Advisory Committee met Feb. 23 to review Fiscal Year 2025 budget requests. Shown are Erica Giles (from left, top row), a lecturer in the University College; and Rebecca Gadson, SFAC chair and associate dean of Policy Management and director of Residence Life. Bottom row: Stanley Fisch, associate dean for Student Affairs in the School of Medicine; Dalia Mendoza, a graduate associate instructor; and Jael Perez, department administrator in the School of Medicine. SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY FATIMA GAMEZ LOPEZ/THE RIDER
The UTRGV School of Medicine, the Superhero Project, Adult Life Skills and the Dean of Students have presented their Fiscal Year 2025 budget requests to the Student Fee Advisory Committee.
Combined, those departments are asking for $438,395.
The total funding requested for FY 2025 is $5,519,045 and the total one-time requests submitted to the SFAC for FY 2024 is $104,013.
The revenue balance reported for the Student Services Fee in Fiscal Year 2025 is $4,417,877.
UTRGV students pay up to $90 in student services fees per semester, which is $7.50 per hour capped at 12 credit hours.
The SFAC makes recommendations on the allocations of projected fees to UTRGV President Guy Bailey. Projected fees are based on enrollment.
UTRGV’s enrollment for Fall 2023 was 31,931.
During its Feb. 23 meeting, the committee listened to eight of 69 department and organization requests.
Stanley Fisch, associate dean for student affairs in the School of Medicine, presented the School of Medicine’s requests for FY 2025.
“Our students are doing a lot more research,” Fisch said. “The bad news, I guess, is that to support them appropriately, we are requesting some more funding to do that. … Beginning in July, it will be a requirement that all of our first- and second-year students actually do a research project in the course of their first two years.”
Because the School of Medicine is not divided into quarters or semesters, their academic year is from July 1 to June 27, 2025.
Fisch said because the SOM has seen an increase in the last two years of students engaging in research, the department requested more funding for FY 2025.
For the next academic year, the SOM requested $171,000 for Medical Student Special Projects. This academic year, it received $27,000.
The School of Medicine also requested money to support its Medical Student Government Association and its interest groups.
“The most recent one, I believe, was the medical humanities interest group,” Fisch said. “Before that, we had the medical Spanish interest group. … Students get together around a topic of interest. … I think they’re budgeted for about $500 of funding to help support, you know, having meetings and making arrangements for these sessions.”
He said the interest groups help students learn more about different specialties.
“I think another area for the SGA request is we are requesting funds for the Student Run Clinic,” said Jael Perez, department administrator in the School of Medicine. “… There is no specific budget associated with this clinic. … The little bit of funding that they have, it really comes from donations.”
Luis Torres-Hostos, dean of the School of Social Work, presented “Life Skills Training for Bachelors and Masters in Social Work Students,” a new request to the student fee committee. SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY FATIMA GAMEZ LOPEZ/THE RIDER
Perez said the clinic helps students gain experience.
“The Student Run Clinic has been something the students started pretty much from the beginning of our school,” Fisch said. “It goes back at least four, maybe five years.”
The clinic is located at 17617 Sabal Palm Dr. in Peñitas.
For the next academic year, the SOM requested $74,100 to support its SGA. This academic year, it received $27,000.
The School of Medicine’s third request is to support its Wellness Initiative. SOM will work with the Professional Development program (RealMD), a program by the University of Utah Health.
RealMD is “a program that promotes a greater connection to professional purpose in medicine,” according to its website. “It is focused mainly on the professional identity development of medical students and trainees.”
For FY 2025, the School of Medicine requested $5,000 to support the Wellness Initiative.
During its Feb. 23 meeting, Melba Latu, Student Rights and Responsibilities director, said the Superhero Project is requesting $18,120 for FY 2024 that will be used for wages, staff benefits, operations and travel. For next academic year, the Superhero Project is requesting $60,488.
In FY 2023, the Superhero Project did not receive any funding, but for the 2022 academic year, its budget was $34,600.
The Superhero Project is a universitywide initiative to promote the idea that individual Vaqueros have the power to prevent high-risk behavior and harm, according to Latu’s presentation.
Luis Torres-Hostos, dean of the School of Social Work, presented “Adult Life Skills,” a pilot project for social work students. The $12,040 project is a new request to the student fee committee.
The project will be offered in both Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.
Because the School of Social Work has a partnership with University of Texas System Education and Research Center in Laredo, the project will also be offered there.
He said the School of Social Work will ask full-time and part-time faculty, social workers from the community and people from different agencies to create short modules on “life skills” topics for graduate and undergraduate social work students. Such as stress management, time management, study habits, financial literacy, etc.
During the Feb. 23 meeting, Melba Latu, Student Rights and Responsibilities director, said the Superhero Project is requesting for Fiscal Year 2024 a total of $18,120 for wages, staff benefits, operations and travel. In FY 2023, the Superhero Project did not receive any funding, but for the 2022 academic year, its budget was $34,600. SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY FATIMA GAMEZ LOPEZ/THE RIDER
The Campus Food Security Initiative budget requested $60,749 for FY 2025, which is a dollar less than its FY 2024 request.
Jodie Dominguez, program manager for Student Support and Wellbeing in the Dean of Students Office, said the CFSI program promotes peer-to-peer engagement to address food insecurity by providing access to fresh produce and plant-powered food sourced locally.
Dominguez said the plan is to reallocate funding for a case manager and deliver quality programming through the Student Food Pantry.
“The case manager will be working with students dealing with mental health, wellness issues, relationship conflicts, personality and social adjustment issues, physical health, nutrition and trauma, recovery and victim advocacy,” she said.
The requested funding will also be used to create workshops, tabling events and presentations focused on well-being.
The Student Food Pantry is requesting an increase of $4,000 to cover the locker software to operate the food lockers on the Edinburg campus. Dominguez said by early summer, the lockers for the Brownsville campus should arrive. According to her presentation, the $4,000 request does not include the lockers in Brownsville.
She said the pantry is working with the School of Podiatric Medicine to establish a food pantry on the Harlingen campus.
As previously reported by The Rider on Feb. 28, 2022, a grant from H-E-B was awarded to the Student Food Pantry for the installment of lockers on the Edinburg campus for students who are not available during the pantry’s distribution days.
Dominguez said the pantry is also requesting a $12,084 increase in wages to hire an additional student employee on the Brownsville campus to operate the pantry.
For the next academic year, the pantry requested $72,085. This academic year, it received $55,398.
Dominguez also talked about the new Wellness Initiatives budget request of $5,000.
She said the budget requested for the Wellness Initiative is to buy promotional items to bring activities for students focusing on well-being.
Members of the Student Fee Advisory Committee include Rebecca Gadson, SFAC chair and associate dean of Policy Management and director of Residence Life; Student Representatives Odalys Saenz, Dalia Mendoza, Natasha Quailes and Andrea Maldonado; and University Representatives Marcela Deleon, Erica Giles, Rene Layton and Hossein Shirvani.
Quailes did not attend the meeting.
Among the requests for the next fiscal year, the UTRGV Pep Band is asking for $81,000, the Center of Excellence in STEM is asking for $75,900 and the Sustainable Campus Community Initiative is asking for $46,758.
On March 8, the Student Fee Advisory Committee met to deliberate the budget requests.
Gadson told The Rider in a March 18 email that “SFAC typically finalizes the recommendations report by the end of April.”
She said UTRGV President Guy Bailey’s “determination and response to SFAC is typically provided by June.”
For more information, visit utrgv.edu/sfac.
The Student Food Pantry requested an increase of $4,000 to cover the locker software to operate the food lockers on the Edinburg campus. Jodie Dominguez, program manager for Student Support and Wellbeing in the Dean of Students Office, said the $4,000 proposed budget increase does not include the lockers for the Brownsville campus. SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY FATIMA GAMEZ LOPEZ/THE RIDER
