The UNM Student Fee Review Board held its final hearings on Sunday to evaluate funding requests by different University bodies for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and board members are asking students to participate in the final decision.
Representatives of 29 units that have applied for student fee dollars, also known as Student Activities Mandatory Fees, presented their projects to the board members during the meeting.
The board has received requests totaling a little over $19 million, SFRB officials said. The funding requests include about $585,000 for one-time applications, and about $18.5 million under recurring applications.
The board will make its final recommendations, which require a majority vote, on Oct. 24-25. The board has also invited student input on the applications.
The board heard from organizations requesting funds and asked specific questions, such as how they are going to use those funds during the next academic year, said Matthew Rush, a graduate representative on the board. He said that one of the interesting challenges the board is going to have this year is the management of increases in fees.
“We do have a large increase that we are looking forward to with the current drops in enrollment for the last couple of years, and projected [moving] forward,” Rush said. "So we are trying to meet that need while keeping the cost of education, both tuition and fees, low enough for students on campus."
Rush said he thought some really interesting programs and projects were presented during Sunday’s deliberations.
“We have some really great programs that are being offered currently, and some are looking at expanding those programs, so we are excited for that,” he said. "It will be an interesting deliberation process of trying to make sure we can optimize funds all across the campus, not just through student fees, in order to meet needs for the future."
According the board's website, the final recommendation last year totaled about $32.6 million, or about $930 per student.
Graduate and Professional Student Association President Texanna Martin requested that students attend the Oct.19-20 SFRB meeting to give their opinions to the board members on the requests, and which ones they support and oppose.
“All of the applications are online … on the SFRB website," she said. "If students could come up and tell us about the projects that will be great, and if they cannot show in person they can give us their opinions through email. Especially this year, looking at the numbers and the increases that have been requested, their input is really important.”
Associated Students of UNM President Jenna Hagengruber said the importance of student fees increasing, lowering or remaining the same applies to undergraduate and graduate students alike. She also urged all students to attend the forums on Oct. 19 and 20, which will be held in the SUB Atrium from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
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Beverly Kloeppel, executive director of the SHAC, requested $130,000 in additional funding toward the on-campus health and counseling resource for fiscal year 2016-17, to improve care that the SHAC provides in a specific field.
“I asked for additional funding for psychiatric services at SHAC, and to cover some of the increases that SHAC has experienced for employ benefits,” she said.
She said that SHAC operations are completely funded by students, either through student fees, the money that students pay when they come for services, or the services for which SHAC bills insurance companies on students’ behalf.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
