Committee approves budget cuts, enrollment to blame

Click to see the 2010-2011 Student Services Fee Budgets.

Members of the Student Fees Advisory Committee recommend cutting funds for student organizations, departments and activities to cover a budget shortfall leaving advisers questioning how they will cope.

Dr. Howard Patterson, vice president for student affairs, asked departments to cut 5 percent from their budget to offset a projected flat year for enrollment and replenish the reserve fund.

Based in current enrollment, the student service fee could not collect enough money to maintain the budget. The committee decreased the budget by $124,461 to balance it.

A fee of $11 per credit hour, or $132 for a full-time student is accessed each semester.  The student service fee provides funds for activities and services for students such as recreational activities, intramural athletics, artists and lecture series, cultural entertainment, student publications and other activities.

The student fee advisory committee consists of both faculty and students who advise the University administration on student life. The committee sends recommended budgets to president Dr. Rodney Mabry for final approval.

Last spring the committee approved dipping into the reserves to fund project requests from organizations for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

“We had orders not to touch the reserve funds this budget,” Committee chairman Cameron Leger said.

After evaluating the numbers, the committee determined the 5 percent would not balance the budget. Totals cuts ranged from 2-85 percent. Counseling and testing received the lowest cut and the drum line received the largest percentage cut according to the proposed student services fee budget.

When the committee finally saw the numbers, they saw that more cuts needed to be made. That’s why it caught people by surprise, Patterson said.

Dr. Charles Walts, assistant professor of speech communications and director of the debate team, said he was shocked when he heard about the additional cuts. He said he would have been better prepared if they asked for a higher cut in the beginning.

They should have been more transparent that they were going to make these types of deep cuts,” Walts said.

The debate team lost 17 percent, or $7,000 of its budget. Walts said the cut would hinder the teams activities in the future.

It damages our ability to compete nationally because we can’t travel to the national tournament that we need to attend in order to be competitive against the best in the nation.”

The Herrington Patriot Center is facing a loss of $2,900 a 10 percent budget cut.

Bob Hepler, director of recreational facilities, said the cutbacks may effect students being able to rent equipment and it may be hard to replace failing equipment.

“It’s a fact of life. We’re approaching the fall like there is no budget cut,” Hepler said.

Vanessa Curry, adviser to the Patriot Talon, said she is still trying to assess the damage of the 11 percent, or $9,238 budget reduction.

“I realize we all have to do our share, but I don’t think a lot of people realize how costly it is to produce a newspaper. And who it’s really hurting are the students who work on the paper,” Curry said.

Leger said committee members made decisions by studying everyone’s budget and answering three questions: What was the money spent on? How much money was not spent in years past? How many students can benefit from this?

“I believe most, if not all, of the organizations that are paid by student fees will not notice,” Leger said. “Now, they may have to watch their budgets more closely and forgo spending on certain unnecessary items, but we believe this flatness will pass and our incoming students and retention will grow.”

Two organizations received an increase in funding. The budget for commencements increased 23 percent or $3,700 because the University needs four ceremonies instead of two.

The new student-run Patriot Orchestra requested $8,000 to purchase music and to build a music library. The committee gave the orchestra $500 for their budget.

“I was not particularly disappointed. I was glad we received some funding. It was more than we had to start with,” Dr. Michael Thrasher, adviser to the orchestra, said.

Mechelle Woods, Matt Rivers, Libby Moore contributed to this report.