Major changes to the over-realized fund and incidental fee could put money back into students’ pockets beginning this spring term.
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz has drafted changes to the Clark Document that will drastically reduce the spring term incidental fee and permanently reduce the over-realized fund. The Clark Document contains all rules and guidelines relating to the incidental fee. The proposed changes could reduce spring term’s incidental fee by as much as $100, reducing it from $195, where it currently sits, to as low $84, Dotters-Katz said.
This year’s over-realized fund is projected at nearly $2.5 million – the largest over-realized fund in University history. The massive excess is the result of the unexpected, record-breaking freshman enrollment. However, if the changes are approved by Friday, the over-realized fund for this year should be between $25,000 and $75,000, Dotters-Katz said.
The changes currently rest in the hands of University Deputy General Counsel Randy Geller, who will review them and make alterations to ensure that changes are according to University standards, Dotters-Katz said. The changes must then be approved by University President Dave Frohnmayer.
Any alterations to the Clark Document must be approved by Nov. 1 in order to apply to this year’s budget. However, because Nov. 1 falls on a Saturday, Geller must make his alterations in time for Frohnmayer to approve them the previous Friday if the changes are to go into effect this spring.
In essence, the changes would use over-realized funds to fulfill the ASUO’s budget for the year, which effectively buys down the spring incidental fee.
The proposed changes would take over-realized funds from fall and winter terms and use them to pay as much of the ASUO’s budget obligations for the year as possible. However, the over-realized fund isn’t large enough to fulfill the budget on its own, so spring term’s incidental fee will still be necessary, Dotters-Katz said. However, he added, it will be significantly smaller.
The process will repeat every year, resulting in a perennially lower spring incidental fee.
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have over-realized (funds),” Dotters-Katz said. “It’s an understandable imperfection in the process. We’re seeking to reduce that imperfection to as small a number as possible.”
ASUO Senate President Alex McCafferty agreed. “I like it. The over-realized process is the result of budget imperfections. If the budget were perfect we wouldn’t need the over-realized process. In that sense, if students can benefit from it in the form of a lower incidental-fee, I’m all for it,” McCafferty said.
While Senate opinions of the changes have been either undecided or positive, ASUO Senator Kate Jones doesn’t approve of the timing. When Dotters-Katz announced the changes at last week’s ASUO Senate meeting, Jones stated, “I’d like to see (the over-realized changes) happen next year. We allocated a lot of money at the beginning of the year, and we did so under the impression that there would be a large sum of money in the over-realized fund at the end of the year.”
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