Student body presidents at ASU are preparing to decide if the student program fee will increase next year from $25 to $75.
Jacob Goulding, the Tempe campus Undergraduate Student Government president, said the fee increase proposed Friday by the Presidents Council would raise additional funds to support student organizations and athletics.
The Presidents Council is composed of the presidents from all five student governments.
Of the $6 million the fee increase is expected to bring in, intercollegiate athletics would receive $3 million, the student government would get $1.5 million, the Programming and Activities Board would get $1 million and the Sun Devil Spirit Club would receive $500,000, Goulding said.
But Goulding said all the dollar amounts in the proposed budget could be renegotiated after one year.
Kelley Stewart, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, is in favor of the increased student fee.
“Higher education is more than just what happens in the classroom,” Stewart said. “And as state funding [to universities] has diminished across all units and cannot be used to fund student initiatives, it is very important to protect the well-rounded Sun Devil experience.”
Stewart said the current student fee was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents in 2008. The Presidents Council must receive approval to implement a new fee, but not to raise an existing fee if it is less than $100. The council also doesn’t need approval from the various student government senates.
The revenue generated by the current fee is about $2 million, which goes toward programs like the bike co-op on the Tempe campus, the Health Center on the West campus and Fall Welcome concerts.
All three state universities have student fees in addition to tuition. ASU would maintain the lowest student fees even with the increase. NAU students pay $815 per year and UA pays $913, while ASU students pay $594. After the increase, ASU students would pay $694, Stewart said.
A new Sun Devil Spirit club, which would be funded by the increase, would help students work with staff to promote the Game Day Initiative, an effort to boost attendance at ASU sporting events. It would also provide new student employment.
Greater school spirit is meant to create “better retention and a better Sun Devil community,” Goulding said.
Polytechnic student government President Dominick Hernandez echoed Goulding’s sentiment and said the new spirit club would “build spirit that transcends graduation.”
Tempe’s USG Senate will hold a special session to vote on the student fee before April 4 so it can be discussed at the April 7 Arizona Board of Regents meeting. However, the Presidents Council does not need approval from ABOR to introduce the fee increase to the senate.
Goulding said he does not personally support the fee because of the increase in tuition.
“I think the process we are going about is good, but I don’t think it’s the right time,” Goulding said, adding that he would still present it in a balanced way to the Tempe USG Senate.
The Tempe, West, Downtown and Graduate senates have yet to take a position on the fee.
The Polytechnic campus senate voted Friday to support the fee.
However, the senate did not vote on how the funds will be distributed. Hernandez said there would probably never be an ideal time to introduce new fees, but this fee could directly improve the quality of the students’ experience and would allow the students to have greater resources to start new clubs.
West campus president Daniel Hatch said he thought the fee would give students the freedom to fund programs they considered important with a stable cash flow. The USG West Senate has not voted on whether it will support the fee.
On the West campus, new programs funded by the fee increase would include the safety escort service, an early polling location and increased funding for clubs, he said. Club funding recently declined at West because of a decrease in enrollment caused by reorganization of academic programs.
Kate Vawter, a marketing senior who is currently serving her second term as president of the Programming and Activities Board at the Tempe campus, said increasing the student fee would enrich the student experience at ASU.
“With the increased funding, more opportunities would be available for students to be engaged in their University,” Vawter said. “These opportunities could range from meeting their future business partner at a Fall Welcome event, to getting the funding they need to start their own club.”
A student forum on the fee, where students can ask questions and voice their opinions on the fee increase, will be held April 15 on the Tempe campus, but the time and place have yet to be decided.
Reach the reporters at beth.easterbrook@asu.edu and mary.shinn@asu.edu
