The Student Fee Review Board approved a final fee package for the 2018-2019 school year in their last meeting on Monday evening.
For the 2018-2019 school year, the SFRB approved a $18.82 total increase for full-time, on campus student. The total amount of student fees for these students will be $1,202.56 if the board’s proposal is approved by student government and university administration.
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Following SFRB’s approval, ASCSU Vice President Cole Wise and the board will present the proposed package to the ASCSU Senate Wednesday night. If the senate accepts the board’s recommendation, CSU President Tony Frank will present the package to the Board of Governors for final approval.
The proposed fee increases are:
- $4.76 for the operations in the Lory Student Center.
- $4.27 for the Alternative Transportation Fee Advisory Board
- $2.73 for Campus Recreation
- $2.24 for the Committee for Disabled Student Accessibility
- $1.77 for the Health Network’s counseling services
- $1.33 for the Career Center
- 69 cent for the Athletic Department
- 50 cents for Student Leadership Involvement and Community Engagement (SLiCE)
- 21 cents for the School of the Arts
- 19 cents for Student Legal Services
- 7 cents for the Women’s Gender Advocacy Center’s efforts on Interpersonal Violence
- 6 cents for Ram Events
In addition to voting on the 2017-2018 student fee package, the board voted to accept the University Technology Fee Advisory Board’s proposal for no fee increase and denied the Associated Students of Colorado State University’s proposed fee decrease.
Proposed ASCSU student fee decrease fails for the 2018-2019 school year
ASCSU president-elect Tristan Syron and vice president-elect Kevin Sullivan presented a proposal for the first fee decrease the board has seen this year. Their proposal was for a $1 decrease and would have brought the ASCSU fee to $23.45.
After Syron and Sullivan’s presentation, the SFRB voted on the fee decrease and ultimately decided against it on the grounds that it would limit ASCSU’s flexibility to achieve its goals. Instead, they voted to maintain the fee level so no decreases or increases would be added. This keeps the ASCSU student fee at $24.45.
The fee decrease proposal stemmed from the upcoming administration’s goal to include the fee policies presented by the other campaigns that ran against them.
“Even though not everybody can be elected, all their policies can be,” Syron said. “So that led to (us asking for) a decrease of a dollar.”
Even though not everybody can be elected, all their policies can be.” Tristan Syron, ASCSU President-Elect
Changes in the ASCSU budget reflect this decision to pursue a fee decrease, such as the choice to not bring back certain positions, which was recommended by ASCSU’s current chief of staff, Syron said. As a result, Syron does not plan to fill the innovation and technology roles and had planned to cut back on summer hours.
“A lot of what we did was just listening to what people had to say,” Syron said.
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While the ASCSU did not get a fee decrease approved by the SFRB, Syron and his administration still have the ability to allocate funds differently and how they see fit.
Syron said they plan for the budget to have a reactionary fund so they can properly respond to any problems in the future.
“We understand that there are a lot of problems around the campus culture right now and I can’t predict what’s going to happen next year,” Syron said. “So we tried to pull … money up so that we have a reactionary fund. That way, if there’s a lot of problems around some of the things that have happened this year … we’d like to be able to put some of our funds forward.”
The new administration also plans to expand travel by ASCSU members. Syron said the travel budget was increased so that the organization can do more outreach and connection with communities on in-state, out-of-state and international levels.
“We’d like to do more outreach outside of the state,” Syron said. “There are three types of community service, they say… There’s local — so what can we do here in Fort Collins and in our university to make a difference? There’s state — what can we do in our state? And what can we do internationally? We’ve never really made that final step.”
Collegian reporter Charlotte Lang can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChartrickWrites.
