Board of Trustees approves increase in fee that pays for student activities

Students and staff breathed a sigh of relief as the Board of Trustees unanimously approved an increase to the fee that pays for student activities and organizations University-wide.

Campus Life, Student Programming councils, Student Media, the Graham Center, Wolfe Center, recreation centers and other departments dependent on the activity and service fee were watching Wednesday’s Board of Trustees meeting carefully to see if they would get the approvals needed.

Albert Maury, chairman of the board, said to Student Media that what helped him make his decision is that the increase had the full support of the students, faculty and staff on the A&S committee.

“As a parent of a student, I was all in favor of making the student experience better,” Maury said to Student Media. “I will always support as long as it makes economic sense.”

The BOT’s seven-member Academic Policy and Student Affairs Committee first unanimously approved a 5 percent increase in the morning, but it was up to the full 13-member board to consider and approve in their afternoon session.

Alexis Catalayud, president of the Student Government Council at Modesto Maidique Campus, said the committee and the BOT’s approval shows that the trustees recognize the value of student retention and graduation.

“That’s what this is about,” said Catalayud, the only student who is a voting member of the BOT. “That’s what FIU is about.”

The A&S fee pays for all student life related organizations, clubs, events, and buildings at FIU; it has stayed at $12.87 per credit hour since 2012-2013.

FIU now joins the University of Florida as the only public university in the state system to successfully lobby its BOT for an A&S fee increase.

UF’s fee increase was for $0.87, bringing its A&S fee total to $19.06 per credit hour.

UF President Dr. J. Bernard Machen and Vice President of Student Affairs Dave Kratzer both recommended the increase and their BOT approved in December 2014, according to public documents.

Maury, who was unanimously reappointed as BOT chairman, said however that UF’s decision had no bearing on his.

“I make my decisions based on what’s best for students,” Maury said.

Larry Lunsford, FIU’s vice president of Student Affairs, said he was appreciative of President Mark Rosenberg’s backing of the increase.

“I’m pleased that President Rosenberg supports the proposal,” Lunsford said, adding that the president made sure to put the increase on the BOT’s agenda.

Rosenberg said to Student Media that while the University has been attentive to Governor Rick Scott’s “strong message” against raising fees, they also have very carefully listened to concerns of their most important constituents: students.

“We will use the increase to make sure students get good jobs,” Rosenberg said. “Which is one of his metrics.”

Job placement is one of the metrics in the Board of Governors’ performance-based funding initiative which Scott helped launch. The BOG approved the funding model in January 2014.

With the increase, Career Services will add seven more positions, according to Lunsford.

He said the University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs will partner with Career Services to split the cost of another position.

The fee increase amounts to a $1.98 increase, or $14.85 per credit hour. For FIU it means an additional $2.3 million to use University-wide.

Matilde Gramling, executive director of Student Affairs, said the University has been able to justify that additional needs exist to warrant the fee increase.

Gramling said Career Services, for example, has several needs that remain uncovered from the initial request they made in spring 2014.

All of the department’s additional needs, which include internships and job placement after graduation, will cost them an extra $500,000, according to Gramling.

Gramling said the increase would benefit both students and the University.

“It would be a win-win,” she said. “If students chip in a little bit, it provides the University with the programs they need and hopefully gets the University more funding.”