S&A committee votes against fee increase

BY RYAN RICIGLIANO | News Editor

Financially strained Central Washington University students can now breath a cautionary sigh of relief. Last week the Services and Activities (S&A) committee voted against raising fees for the 2010-11 school year.

During their weekly Wednesday meeting, the committee, made up of six students and three faculty members, voted 5 – 1 to keep the fees as they are and not raise them for the coming year.

The three faculty members abstained. Baker said they wanted it to be a “total student decision” in order to be reflective of the student voice.

“We are sending the message that students will not keep incurring blind increases,” said Logan Bahr, executive vice president for the Associated Students of Central Washington University Board of Directors (ASCWU-BOD) and S&A member.

Last year, the S&A Committee voted to raise fees by 14 percent in conjunction with tuition increases. Currently, quarterly fees are $208 per student or $624 annually.

“The committee was not going to blindly accept S&A increases and put the burden on students,” said Jack Baker, assistant to the vice president of student affairs and enrollment management (SAEM) and S&A committee adviser.

Despite the vote, Baker is quick to point out that S&A is a recommending committee only. The final decision rests in the hands of the Board of Trustees and will be decided on later this year.

Baker still notes the importance of the vote and believes it to be a step in the right direction.

“The committee has broken away and recommended to not be tied to tuition,” Baker said. “It shows that students are serious.”

Bahr, who motioned the recommendation, said his reasons for supporting it were twofold.

“First there was the pragmatic reason that the fee was raised 14 percent last year and that was an exorbitant amount,” Bahr said. “So we are hoping to mitigate the effects of the last increase.”

Bahr went on to say that the members of the S&A committee met for “four to five hours” on the Monday before the meeting to discuss the possible increase and the message they wanted to send.

“Students are the majority funders [of S&A now] and hopefully we can send the message that we can’t keep up with the status quo,” Bahr said.

Bahr also mentioned that the S&A fees at Central are noticeably higher than those of other universities. Currently, S&A fees make up about 11 percent of the total tuition cost.

“Our fee is staggering compared to other universities like the University of Washington,” Bahr said.

The proposal of an S&A fee increase comes at a time when the committee is deciding upon base funding requests for the upcoming school year. Due to possible university and state budget cuts, more and more campus departments are asking the S&A for funding.

The University Writing Center, normally funded by Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, was told to request $200,000 of its budget to be funded by S&A for the upcoming year. The Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Office is requesting $125,291 to replace a portion of Baker’s salary and that of Keith Champagne, associate vice president of SAEM. The office fears its state funding for these positions may soon dry up.

“It’s a little disappointing these decisions are being left up to students, but we are prepared to make them,” Bahr said. “There should be some aspect of shared sacrifice.”

Despite the committee’s recommendation, Baker feels that next year they’ll have to raise the fees.

“You can’t run a business without some kind of increases,” Baker said.