Representatives from the Career Center and the Alternative Transportation Fee Advisory Board (ATFAB) met with the Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) Monday afternoon in order to propose fee increases for their corresponding organizations.

Katie Flint, director of employer connections and operations, and Katie Lloyd, director of career education, presented for the Career Center. Other representatives present included Summer Shaffer, Barb Richardson and Jamie Moyer.

The Career Center asked for a fee increase to cover mandatory costs. Lloyd said the center is expecting to be fully staffed next year and hopes to begin moving initiatives forward.

“For the past two years we’ve waived that mandatory fee increase,” Lloyd said. “This year… we project we will need that increase in order to sustain our future budget needs.”

Salaries and benefits are both areas where the Career Center most needs the increase. Flint said the center employees 25 full-time workers and 33 part-time or student workers— workers who would be affected by the raise in minimum wage.

Flint also spoke of the fact that the center’s executive director position has been vacant for nearly a year and that they do not expect to have it filled until the early summer. This, along with a few other unfilled roles, is another area where the salary budget would be increased from last year.

At the end of the presentation, Flint answered a question on whether or not the center expects to see a need for a fee increase next year.

“It’s hard to say because without our next executive director being here, we don’t know what their vision is going to be,” Flint said. “I can say at this moment that we wouldn’t but I don’t want to speak for the next director, either. That will certainly impact next year’s budget.”

ATFAB’s proposal was run by Hanna Johnson and Wendell Stainsby, chair and vice chair of the organization.

Johnson asked for ATFAB’s existing fee of $26.73 per semester for full-time students to be increased by $4.27, totaling to $30.50 a semester for students. Johnson said this would go towards the organization’s funding pool.

“I realize that the increase seems like a lot but please understand we are only a two and a half year old board so we can’t really serve students the way we’d like with our current funding pool because we don’t have a funding pool,” Johnson said.

Stainsby followed this with an explanation that 67 percent of students use alternative means of transportation— biking, walking, bus riding, etc— but do not have a funding pool dedicated to them. He said ATFAB’s goal is to keep these students safe.

The two showed several examples of how students are currently in danger as a result of the current transportation systems. One such example was a video Johnson took of a car nearly hitting a biker near the Oval.

“This is not ideal and should not be happening on our campus,” Johnson said.

This is not ideal and should not be happening on our campus.” Hannah Johnson, ATFAB Chairperson

The meeting ended with a discussion on the two presentations and planned to vote on it next week. Last week’s presentations— athletics and the University Facility Fee Advisory Board (UFFAB) — were also discussed. Athletics was tabled for next meeting as a result of the representatives not yet getting back to the board. UFFAB’s proposal was approved.

Collegian reporter Charlotte Lang can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChartrickWrites.