Students interested in deciding where their student fees go will have the opportunity to share their opinions during a Student Fee Review Board town hall meeting Friday afternoon.
The board allocates about $5.5 million in student fees, depending on enrollment, and is seeking input from students about how to distribute that money among 22 groups who have requested more than $7 million.
Three graduate students and four undergraduates sit on the board with two-year appointments.
"My main objective as chair of this board is to have a lot of openness with information," said Rachel Jenks, president of Graduate and Professional Student Association. "It's really important for students to know where their fees are going."
After a meeting with the Athletics Department in December, Jenks got her first taste of how vocal students can be when informed. She used the GPSA listserv to ask how much funding the department should receive.
"The response was overwhelming, with some people saying more money should go to women's sports, others pushing for more funding for minor sports and some saying that athletics should receive no money and that we should use that for other services such as the library or Career Services," she said.
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Jenks said the committee will take all the feedback into consideration during the two-day question-and-answer sessions with groups requesting funding and when final allocation recommendations are made.
Eliseo Torres, vice president for Academic Affairs, and the Executive Cabinet make the final decision about the fee distribution but generally follow the Student Fee Review Board's recommendations.
The following groups have applied for funding for next year:
African American Student services sought $42,000 for supplies and tutoring.
Agora Crisis Center asked for $32,760 for Students Educating Peers About Sex, Rape Crisis Center, Women's Center, Psychology Clinic, recruitment and other services.
American Indian Student Services sought $30,000 for tutoring, advisement, computers, mentoring and workshops for American Indian students.
Athletics requested $759,526 for discounted men's basketball tickets and free admission to all other sports for students. It also said the funding would go toward student athletes, student managers, spirit squads and marching band.
Career Services asked for $13,500 for career advisement, career resources, on campus recruiting, career fairs, job listings and educational programming.
CAPS sought $123,800 for one-on-one content area tutoring, teaching library and study skills, walk-in tutoring for high demand subjects, special topic workshops, exam reviews, language conversation groups and groups study sessions.
The Child Care Center requested $180,453 to provide child care with no limit to the amount of families receiving subsidy and keep rates as low as possible.
CIRT asked for $40,000 to create a UNM student portal to become the primary access point for online services and information.
Direct Disability Services and Student Support Services sought $130,000 for sign language interpreters, readers of classroom materials, note taking, diagnosing learning disabilities and referrals to community service agencies.
El Centro de la Raza asked for $90,100 for student employment, supplies, peer mentoring, scholarship and internship information and UNM celebrations for Latino students.
General Library requested $350,000 for the creation of the Information Commons, which includes upgrading computer networks, reference services and printing and copy services.
International Programs and Studies sought $28,700 for weekly social hour, student employment and its international festival.
KUNM asked for $60,000 for student training in radio broadcasting and radio programming targeted for students.
Minority Recruitment and Retention requested $80,120 for employment of student recruiters and a computer laboratory.
Popejoy Public Events sought $75,000 for discounted student tickets.
Recreational Services asked for $492,090 for campus recreation, which includes gymnasiums; weight room; fitness center; racquetball, squash and tennis courts; swimming pools; grass; outdoors and bicycle shops; special events and student employment.
Student Government Accounting requested $95,300 to assist student organizations with financial planning, documents and expenditures and to pay student employees.
Student Health Center sought $3 million for medical services, counseling and therapy services, health education and prevention and student training.
Student Union asked for $1,342,307 for computer laboratories, student organization offices, food and catering services, recreational areas and student employment.
Theatre and Dance requested $20,000 for discounted student tickets.
University Bands sought $75,500 for materials and services, instrument purchase and maintenance and honoraria for guest artists at clinics.
Women's Resource Center asked for $32,249 for tutoring, mentoring, computer pod access and training, educational material and a safe environment for women.
