With more than $4 million in student incidental fees to distribute to student groups in 2002-03, Programs Finance Committee members have more money at their fingertips than ever before, and they’re setting budgets for an unprecedented number of new groups.
The five people who constitute the PFC this year say they have good reason to care that the committee allocates money wisely — as students, they also pay fees and benefit from the programs and services the fee funds.
This year, the PFC members have the added responsibility of deciding budgets that students previously voted on, such as OSPIRG.
To accommodate these extra groups, the ASUO Student Senate set PFC’s benchmark for 2002-03 at $4,036,698 — more than $1 million higher than PFC’s allocation to groups last year.
Over the course of PFC’s 2002 budget hearings –which began Jan. 7 and end Feb. 4, PFC members will decide how much each student group will receive. The amount of money they allocate now will help determine how much students will pay in incidental fees next year.
PFC members vary in their interests and financial experience. But all members say they can put their personal feelings about groups aside and decide budgets objectively during hearings.
And despite a job description that includes attending meetings that can last seven hours or longer, three to four times a week, for a stipend of just $150 a month, PFC members each have their own reason why they say the job is worth it.
PFC Chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden, the only returning committee member, brings nearly three years of ASUO experience to the group. Last year she was a PFC senator; the previous year she was an intern for the ASUO Executive.
A 21-year-old junior, Madden said she ran for a PFC senate seat last year because she thought the position would complement her majors in business and political science.
Madden, who helped prepare rookie committee members before budget hearings began, said she advised the new members to decide budgets based on the group’s previous spending patterns and to remember “the big picture” — how the budgets they set affect the incidental fees students will pay next year.
“We need to keep in mind that the decisions we make affect students’ pocketbooks,” she said. “And in some cases even their ability to go to college.”
Executive appointee Erin Foote Pursell, 21 and a senior political science and environmental studies major, is vice chairwoman of the committee. She said she likes being a member of PFC because she is in a position to help groups achieve their goals.
Pursell has volunteered as a driver for Project Saferide and has led campaigns for OSPIRG.
She said people shouldn’t be concerned that her budgetary bias will lean toward those groups. She said she cares about those programs and wants them to manage their money well, and she is likely to be harder on them than other members.
When deciding budgets, she said she tries to balance the group’s past spending with what the group needs to achieve its goals.
“I have noticed myself being further to the left than other members — just in terms of taking a chance on groups,” she said.
Member-at-large Russ Tkebuchava, 21, spends a minimum of 15 hours a week in PFC budget hearings, works 30 hours a week as a cashier at ShopKo and is taking 16 class credits this term.
He said the extra time he spends in PFC is worth it to him because he wants “a hand in how our money is spent.” The experience will help him prepare for a career related to accounting and economics.
Tkebuchava said he has attended many group events and meetings but does not consider himself a member of any program included in the PFC budget.
“When (a hearing) starts I kind of disregard any past relationship I’ve had with the group and look objectively at the budget,” he said. “We’re accountants.”
Programs appointee Joe Streckert, 21, said he decided to join PFC because he wanted to work in student government and “thought PFC would most directly involve me with the most number of students.”
As a member of Model United Nations, the junior political science major prepared the group’s PFC budget request. In high school, he worked for a bankruptcy lawyer, preparing debt documentation.
Streckert, who was elected to PFC by the ASUO Programs Council, said he is “always willing to give groups the benefit of the doubt.”
PFC Senator Nadia Hasan has been involved with several ASUO groups, including the Muslim Student Association and Students of the Indian Subcontinent. Last year, she was an ASUO intern.
The 19-year-old sophomore business major ran for PFC because she wanted to improve the relationship between the ASUO and the groups it governs, she said.
“A lot of students feel like the ASUO is out to get them, and I guess I just wanted to see what it was like from the other side.”
E-mail student activities editor Kara Cogswell at [email protected].