ASUO met on Jan. 29 to finish up its annual budget cycle with this year’s Budget Bonanza. During the meeting, ASUO amended and approved the Incidental fee — or I-Fee — budget for the next academic year.
The I-Fee is a mandatory student fee that funds programs and services around campus. ASUO and its different finance committees oversee services, which include Lane Transit District bus passes and the Mills International Center.
According to the ASUO website, the ASUO president sends the finalized I-Fee budget recommendation to the UO president. ASUO President Isaiah Boyd said he had three school days after the meeting to send it into the president’s office for approval.
After the president’s review of the recommendation, it will be passed on to the Board of Trustees for their final vote.
Prior to the meeting, ASUO took the EMU out of the I-Fee budget and placed it within the student union fee overseen by the Tuition and Fee Advisory Board. The I-Fee funded programs and services within the EMU from ticketing services to worker payroll.
“The core of the problem has been that EMU requires a significant portion of the I-Fee collection, and because of rising labor costs and the size of the EMU budget it puts an increasing strain on the I-Fee,” Vice President of Student Life Kevin Marbury said at the Jan. 28 TFAB meeting.
With the EMU removed from the I-Fee, ASUO’s 2022-23 I-Fee budget changed from just over $17 million to about $9 million.
The I-Fee budget recommendation passed by senate sets the amount students pay each term. Following the removal of the EMU from the I-Fee budget, the I-Fee amount paid by students is set at $138.25 per term for the 2022-23 academic year.
Boyd said students would still be paying for the EMU no matter where it ended up. The change means the EMU fee will fall under other UO mandatory fees rather than within the I-fee.
In the previous year ASUO was stuck at an $800,000 I-Fee budget increase for the 2021-22 fiscal year. If it increased the budget further, ASUO would push over a 5% increase to the I-Fee, which would require ASUO to get special permission from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
Boyd said the EMU was requesting a large portion of the I-Fee, leaving smaller portions for the rest of the finance committees: the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee, the Departments Finance Committee and the Programs Finance Committee. ACFC funds contracts like the agreement with LTD and student legal services, and DFC oversees programs including the Mills International Center and Duck Rides.
Boyd said in particular the Programs Finance Committee, which recommends the appropriation of I-Fee funds to student organizations, saw a big increase in its budget with the implementation of ASUO’s new stipend model.
ASUO officers raised concerns over student autonomy within the EMU during the meeting. Senator Raul Patel said he thought there was consensus to not give the EMU to UO administration due to concerns of how they might affect it as a student space.
“It’s the student union,” Patel said. “It’s supposed to be a place for student activity.”
Boyd said the EMU being switched over to administration allows it to fall under UO’s guaranteed tuition model. “All of our programs are actually really safe with this transition because they’re locked in now,” Boyd said. “Meaning the funding they receive is locked, it won’t shift or change.”
In the event where major changes are made to the EMU that are not well received, Boyd said there is structure in place to transition the EMU back within the I-Fee.
Boyd said senators on the EMU board will eventually be placed within the other finance committees. The EMU board structure will remain the same during the current budget cycle, but members will report to the TFAB rather than ASUO.
