Board of Trustees unanimously approves operating budget, 3-year plan

Mariella Roque/Staff Writer

The University’s board of trustees’ first meeting of the year took place on June 14, where board members unanimously approved the University’s operating budget.

The meeting was led by Vice Chairman Michael Adler in the absence of Chairman Albert Maury.

At the start of the meeting, Adler introduced two additions to the board: Laura Farinas, president of the Student Government Association and Robert T. Barlick, Jr., vice president at Goldman Sachs.

When asked about being a part of the board, Farinas said, “It’s a lot of information and a lot of work. I feel privileged to represent students.”

During the meeting, Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Jessell presented the University operating budget. Among the issues raised was the 15 percent increase in differential tuition, the practice of charging some students more than others based on their financial status.

“We still recognize that every dollar counts to a student,” Jessell said. “We think that we’ve done a good job in making need-based financial aid available.”

Thirty percent of the increase will be invested in need-based financial aid.

“It sounds like a lot but if you look at other institutions nationally, the dollar amount is not that large,” Jessell said. “We’ve made very good investments with those dollars coming in.”

These investments include 61 new faculty, 15 student advisors, 2 police officers and 23 student support staff.

Along with tuition, several student fees will also see an increase in the proposed budget. The Capital Improvement Trust Fund fee will be increased $2 per credit hour, the athletics fee $0.54 per credit hour, A&S fee $1.27 per credit hour and the parking fee $8 per semester.

Two fees were not increased: the housing fee and the financial aid and technology fee. The housing and parking fees are self-sufficient and receive no state support. There was also no increase to the base tuition.

“This is the second year [the housing fee] has not increased,” Jessell said. “Even though our costs have gone up, we’ve done refinancing of the existing debt and we passed those savings on to the students.”

The budget was approved unanimously by the board.

Rosenberg presented the University Work Plan for the 2012-13 school year, highlighting the Graduation Success Initiative. According to the plan, GSI “is a comprehensive system for improving retention and graduation rates at FIU.”

Through this program, Rosenberg stated that the University plans to graduate 10,800 students and enroll a total of 50,000 students.

The plan was voted on and approved unanimously.

The Work Plan, also called the three-year plan, was presented at the Board of Governors meeting for approval in Orlando last Tuesday.

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