Student Senate Discusses Implementation of Student Activity Fees

By Jason Endres

Last week , Student Senate publicly discussed the idea of implementing student activity fees at Gettysburg College. Directors and administrators from various departments have appealed to Senate, discussing the reasons why extra funding is necessary and why a student activity fee would be a good idea.

Student Senate handed out a form stating the senate’s budget over the past ten years and the number of clubs on campus in each of those years. Senate was unwilling to release each individual club’s funding because, according to one senator, it would be a violation of the senate constitution. In these ten years, the number of clubs has increased from ten in 1994-1995 to forty three in the current year. In the same period of time, senate’s funding has decreased from $82,991 to the current $65,248. However, it should be noted that senate’s funding has remained exactly the same per year since the 2000-2001 academic year. Currently, student senate receives funding from the college and has little control over the amount of money it receives yearly.

The other form distributed by Student Senate was the proposed amount of money a student activity fee (SAF) would garner and a proposed allocation of the money accrued. The SAF would be $50 per year which, according to Student Senate President, Holly Woodhead, would have to be paid by all students except for those studying abroad. The proposed budget is based on the assumption that 2,375 students would pay this fee, totaling $118,750 in collected fees per academic year. President Woodhead explained that, “all of the revenue from the SAF would go into the Senate account. We would then allocate funds to Club Sports/Recreation, Campus Activities Board (CAB), Residence Life, and Senate Clubs.” In the proposed budget, $25,000 would go to CAB for concerts as well as another $20,000 for other programming. $19,000 (16 percent of the SAF) would go towards three new cardio machines for the gym. The largest part of the budget would be kept in student senate. If the SAF is implemented, an additional $38,750 would become available to senate. The new senate budget would be $103,998 for the academic year, a 59.4 percent increase compared to this year’s budget.

Woodhead believes that a SAF would be beneficial to all students. “Groups… are facing serious under funding problems and, as such, are restricted in the quality and amount of programming they can do throughout the year. A SAF would be a continuous stream of funding to alleviate such concerns.

Student Senate has looked at eighteen other “peer” institutions to see if they implemented an activity fee. In their research, sixteen of the eighteen colleges have a SAF which average a much higher $200-$250 per year compared to the $50 SAF senate is discussing. One thing not mentioned is that other institutions include several different components in their activity fee such as a technology fee, which Gettysburg already has. If Gettysburg College included its $250 technology fee with the discussed $50 fee it would total $300, which is higher than the average fee of our “peer” schools.

Besides a SAF, there is another way student senate could increase its finances. “Senate could petition the President (President Will) for additional funding for next year. However, due to other funding priorities on campus it is unlikely that we would be able to obtain the amount of funding that the four groups are requesting (Senate, CAB, club sports, and Residence Life), explained President Woodhead.”

Student Senate does not have total control on this issue. For a SAF to be passed, Senate would have to vote on a proposal. If successful, according to President Woodhead, it “will go before the Student Life Committee to approve. If approved there it would be brought before the President and lastly to the Board of Trustees.” The trustees would have to vote because the fee would increase the amount all students, or in most cases parents, would have to pay for school each year. The fee would be the same for all students regardless if they participate in any clubs or not. President Woodhead believes that if the SAF is passed the fee would go into effect as early as the 2006-2007 school years.

Currently, it is uncertain whether the fee will be implemented or not. It is an idea senate had discussed, said one Junior Senator, at a closed meeting a few weeks ago, but this was the first time it was discussed in an open forum. President Woodhead expressed that, “the students support it however; I have yet to sit down with the administration and speak to them about it in detail.”

For more information regarding the idea of student activity fees contact: Student Senate President Holly Woodhead- woodho01@gettysburg.edu