Monday, April 20, 2009
After a long evaluation and assessment process, the University Student Senate met April 8 to finalize next year’s budget and to decide which programs would have to be cut in order to avoid a substantial increase in student fees next year.
There had been considerable debate about which fee cuts would have the smallest impact on students’ lives, and the final budget more or less succeeds in limiting the loss of student positions and important services. The Senate should be applauded for its good-faith effort to realize this goal.
Specifically, Senate dramatically cut the campus safety fee, slashed the educational opportunity fee, which provides student scholarships, and reduced the newspaper readership program fee. In an effort to minimize the impact of cuts on other programs, Student Senate also cut its own fee, the Student Senate activity fee, by $2.
But these cuts meant that funding for other crucial services — recreation, health care and student media — could be preserved. In total, the Lawrence campus fees each student pays will increase from $414.70 to $423.35 next semester.
Michael Wade Smith, Goodland sophomore and technology and advertisement director for Student Senate, was a member of the fee review subcommittee and said Student Senate, its finance committee and the its executive staff had a few goals in mind while looking into the recommended fee cuts.
“Our goals were to make sure people’s lives weren’t affected,” Wade Smith said. “We tried to make sure as many student positions stayed in tact and to make sure services stayed at the same level as last year.”
It’s inevitable to see some fees affected by these cuts. In order to allocate money that was needed for fees such as the student health fee and the student recreation fee, the Senate had to determine which fees could bear the expense of these adjustments; it was a long process.
There were concerns about the decrease or removal of certain fees that would significantly affect programs that are beneficial to students and faculty. The decrease in the educational opportunity fee will hinder the amount of scholarships given out to students.
Jake Lerman, Chicago junior and journalism student, said he knew the fee cuts needed to happen but had reservations about what was going to be cut, specifically the student media fee.
“I didn’t want to see strong organizations like The Daily Kansan and KJHK be affected by these cuts,” Lerman said. “The student media fee is one that is important for our school and is central in the lives of students here.”
Lerman said he thought Student Senate did the best it could with what it had and was glad to see it maintained many services.
Wade Smith said the student media fee was not affected. Finance took 25 cents out the student readership fee in order to prevent cuts to services provided by student media.
“I think it’s sad, in times when we hurt for money, that we have to start cutting fees,” Wade Smith said. “It’s going to hurt, but we’ll get through it.”
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Comments
Editorial: Senate reduced impact of fee cuts for students
I thank everyone who worked hard on this. You all did a great job, in my opinion.
Editorial: Senate reduced impact of fee cuts for students
Thanks, Andy :)
Editorial: Senate reduced impact of fee cuts for students
ditto!
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