ASUO President Ben Eckstein@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12@@ confirmed the return of funds that were taken when the University administration overcharged the ASUO on their assessment rate. Eckstein discovered they were being overcharged while working to change the assessment rate overall.
“At the end of last year, we had a 5 percent assessment rate. There was a discussion that the rate was actually going to be 6 percent, but there were people who weren’t in agreement with that,” Eckstein said. As a part of the change, he hoped to be assessed differently than the rest of the campus groups. “In the process of those negotiations, it came to my attention that we had been overcharged by 1 percent this year.”
Eckstein began advocating to change the rate charges and to have the extra funds returned.
“It was confirmed that the division of Finance and Administration@@vpfa.uoregon.edu@@ would be charging the ASUO at a lower overhead rate for the remainder of spring term and that they would return the difference,” Eckstein said. “So that by the end of the year we will have essentially paid the 5 percent and over $100,000 will go to our Over-Realized Fund.”
Eckstein said the ASUO Executive plans on investing the returned money and keeping it around for next year.
“The ASUO next year will have another important opportunity to invest in our fund,” Eckstein said. “Ultimately investing funds in programs and initiatives that will benefit students in the long-run.”
Eckstein is proud that the lobbying of the Executive could bring money back to the students.
“Of course we will follow up that the funds are ultimately returned to students,” Eckstein said. “We are excited that students will see their funds going back to us.”