A student opinion survey will be sent out to students at the end of this month regarding the current student fees and the services provided under those fees, according to Associated Students of CSU director of Finance Wendy Bowling.

As per ASCSU President Regina Martel and Vice President Joe Eden’s third campaign promise to involve more students in student fee processes and outcomes, the survey will be distributed to approximately 5,000 students as a way to assess the effectiveness of the services provided under ASCSU’s portion of student fees.

“This survey is designed to get tangible feedback on services that ASCSU provides,” Bowling said. “It will help us know what services affect the most students and how to keep the fees that students pay at a sustainable rate.”

Bowling added that the survey will also be used as an educational tool for those who complete it. It will cover 16 different categories, mainly organized by the biggest and most expensive services provided by ASCSU. This will give student government an idea about how to best fund certain programs, depending on which are the most effective.

“It will also give us some great insight as to what types of students use what programs most,” Bowling said. “From that data, we might be able to collaborate with other campus organizations to help fund it and therefore decrease costs on our part.”

In addition to this survey, ASCSU has held two finance forums on the Lory Student Center Plaza in order to get direct feedback from students and has two more planned for the upcoming months.

“We’ve started holding finance forums where Wendy and I will stand on the Plaza to provide an opportunity for students to give us their input about fees and also about all our services in general,” Martel said. “We want to ensure that students can become more involved in the process and I think that we have largely done that.”

A change in the ASCSU Constitution, written by Eden and passed by Senate at the beginning of this year, has also contributed to more student voice in the matter of student fees.

The amendment provided for 50 percent of the Student Fee Review Board to be made up by senators, a representative body.

“We try to be as transparent as possible with every penny we spend that is collected from student fees,” Eden said, in an email to the Collegian. “ We hope that this survey will help clarify any questions students may have on where their student government fee goes and encourage both feedback and participation in the process.”

A similar survey was conducted by ASCSU last spring on student opinions of tobacco use and smoke on campus, the results of which were made public last week.

ASCSU Beat Reporter Carrie Mobley can be reached at news@collegian.com.