The Student Fee Review Board, which drafted its final recommendations on Friday, is stuck between a rock and a hard place: the depressed economy and shallow pockets of college students.
As departments face the possibility of receiving less funding from the State, many have asked for increases in their SFRB funding.
The SFRB is responsible for doling out an estimated $8 million to departments in the University. All recommendations will be reviewed by the Board of Regents in March before funding for the groups is approved.
At its final deliberation meeting on Friday, the board made recommendations to 22 departments across the UNM campus.
The recommendations included $44,031 to the Women's Resource Center and $25,000 to the Theatre and Dance Department. These groups would be getting the total amount they requested.
Student Health and Counseling got a recommendation of $390,852, much less than it received last year. The SFRB recommended that Zimmerman Library should not receive funding for a program that would allow students to print for free.
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Because the SFRB has limited resources, the board may not have enough to give each department the amount it asks for while trying to keep student fees low, said Ashley Fate, ASUNM president and SFRB chairwoman. The board's recommendations this year will drive fees up by $60, one senator estimated.
The board faces the dilemma of either drastically increasing student fees or giving departments less money, Fate said.
"Yes, we can justify a dollar or two, but when you have 22 departments coming to you asking for a dollar or two-dollar increase, (it) becomes a $44 increase, and that becomes a tough pill to swallow," she said. "It's just tough - it's tough that our enrollment is going down, and I think everyone feels that pain."
Undergraduate students pay $508.35 per year in fees, while graduate students pay $524.38.
The amount of student fees allocated to departments is based on the Full Time Equivalency, which counts the number of full-time students taking at least 12 hours or two or more students that make an equivalent of 12 hours. The funding the SFRB is able to give to the departments depends on the level of projected enrollment, which changes each semester.
The SFRB is also responsible for considering how much to increase the amount students pay in fees. Student fees will be raised no matter what decisions are made by the SFRB, Fate said.
The fees are based on enrollment, which has decreased, thereby increasing the fees students could have to pay to get the same funds the board had last year.
ASUNM Sen. Nick Torres said that if every department was funded for the amount they asked, students would have to pay significantly higher fees.
"Right now we are looking at a $60 increase, and even if we funded everyone just at the rate we funded last year, student fees would go up by $12.78 just because of the change in the FTE, so I think we need to seriously consider cutting back in some places," Torres said.
Many departments will not be getting the increases they requested, said Christopher Ramirez, GPSA president.
He said the board does not intend to punish departments by recommending less funding than they requested.
"This isn't the year to do nice-to-do things," Ramirez said. "This is a year to stick to what is needed."
