The Student Fees Review Board met with about 15 students Monday in a town hall meeting to get input for its recommendations to the UNM Board of Regents.
The SFRB is comprised of seven undergraduate and graduate students and hears allocation requests from University departments and organizations. The board then makes suggestions to the regents on how students' fees, which are included in tuition, are spent. Present from the SFRB were Amanda Sims, two-year undergraduate representative, Tim Reed, one-year undergraduate appointment, James Meiers, two-year appointment for graduate students, Jennifer Onuska, ASUNM president and SFRB chairwoman, and Lorena Olmos, GPSA president and SFRB co-chairwoman.
"The purpose of the town hall meetings is for the UNM community, in particular students, to come and express their concerns about where their student fees are going," Onuska said.
The board went through each request and gave a brief overview about why departments were asking for money. The requests were broken into two categories -- above the line, an allocation which a department asks for each year, and below the line, which is a one time allocation. The total "above the line" allocations asked for by departments, which include the Student Government Accounting Office, Athletics, the Center for Academic Support, Recreational Services, the General Library, the Student Union, the Student Health Center, the Child Care Center and Popejoy Hall, totaled $6,639,649, $836,849 more than the total student fees collected the past year.
The one-time allocations, which include requests from African American Student Services, Career Services, Agora Crisis Center, El Centro de la Raza, KUNM, Marching Band, American Indian Student Services, the Women's Center, the Minority Graduate Program, International Programs and Engaging Latino Communities for Education, totaled $588,645 and was $228,264 over the projected allocation.
Non-board members present at the meeting voiced their approval for most of the requests the board reviewed. The purpose of the $726,000 request from Athletics was questioned by some. The board explained that the funds the Athletic Department receives from student fees go directly to scholarships. Onuska said 81 percent of athletes are on some kind of scholarship.
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The Student Health Center request was also discussed. The center is asking for $391,345 more than it received last year. The increase, Olmos said, was to provide better mental health care for students. The center also asked the board to recommend that student fees be increased by $25. If they receive the allocation and the $25 fee increase is approved, the co-payment students pay for mental health services would be waived.
Sims said that every group presented a strong case.
"Obviously, we're not going to give everybody everything they ask for," Sims said. "We'd love to, but please understand that if a department doesn't receive everything they ask for it's certainly not because we feel they're not worthy of it, we just don't have an extra million dollars to allocate."
