President Tony Frank and Provost Rick Miranda presented an early version of the Fiscal Year 2017 Education and General Budget to the ASCSU senate Wednesday night.

Frank proposed a 5 percent increase to resident undergraduates, a 4 percent increase to non-resident undergraduates, a 3 percent increase to all graduates and a 1 percent increase to non-resident professional veterinary medicine students.

The early version of the FY17 budget assumes no increase or decrease to state funding. For this reason, anything new that the University decides to fund is financed by tuition, Frank said.

“Over my lifetime, if you combine tuition and state support for higher education, our cost of educating has not significantly changed,” Frank said. “What has changed is who we are asking to pay for it. I think we are failing you (the students) in a major way, but it is the situation we are in.”

Frank has opened budget discussion to ASCSU, who may propose alternatives and recommendations to the Fiscal Year 2017 Education and General Budget to the administration.

To aid ASCSU in this task, Frank suggested using the online Budget Planning Tool the University is providing to the public. 

“The challenge we have is not to be the cheapest place, and not to be the most elite place,” Frank said. “The challenge is to strike a balance of affordability and excellence. It is a tricky balance.”

There is currently a surplus of $2 million for the Fiscal Year 2017 Education and General Budget. In this budget, the University is considering a 2 percent salary increase for all employees.

“We always balance the budget, so we have a whole set of possibilities,” Frank said. “This is an early version, so there is a lot of flexibility.”

Executive Reports: U+2

ASCSU will be distributing petitions and gaining signatures for a reform to the U+2 city ordinance. Sydoriak is planning to ask the City of Fort Collins for petitions the first week of November.

“If you actually want to be a part of making history in this town, please sign up to volunteer,” Sydoriak said. “I’m fairly certain we can do this (alter U+2).”

Collegian ASCSU Reporter Erin Douglas can be reached online at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @erinmdouglas23.