If money is power, the student government at the University of Oregon has a great deal of it. With more than $10.5 million under its control, the ASUO student government determines the fate of many programs and services at the University.
Students here pay higher student fees than other Pacific-10 Conference schools, with the ASUO controlling far more actual dollars than most other student government bodies. Other governments often manage less than $2 million.
The EMU, the student athletic ticket program and the student government share the incidental fee, but how much each receives rests in the hands of the Student Senate.
Every dollar of the incidental fee at the University is under student control.
While many other schools support the same entities (a student rec center or a memorial union), the amount distributed is not always under student control. Some surrounding states require additional levels of approval, but in Oregon, students set the incidental fee for each university in the Oregon University System.
The ASUO collects $202 per term from each University student. These fees fund a multitude of programs and services, from Lane Transit District bus passes to the Hawaii Club. Each budget is reviewed by both the executive staff of the ASUO and a group of seven students known collectively as the Programs Finance Committee.
The PFC is made up of three finance senators, elected each year, two at-large elected members, one executive appointee and one programs representative.
The process for budgeting is fairly simple. Each group provides missions and goals statements to the PFC. The ASUO Finance Coordinator reviews each budget, and makes a recommendation to the PFC. The PFC hears from each program, service or group. Hearings occur during spring term, and PFC ultimately makes recommendations to Senate. Senate has the power to change budgets at this time, according to the Green Tape Notebook, the ASUO governing document, and the recommendations are then passed to the ASUO president. The ASUO president, while having the power of veto, does not have the power to alter budgets. Senate may override a presidential veto.
The final step is one of a signing-off by the University president.
Groups and programs that fail to submit budgets and goals on time may be de-funded for the following year, but the Clark document, one of the ASUO’s guiding documents, prohibits the reduction of a “traditionally funded” group by more than 25 percent in a given year without a unanimous vote from the PFC. A unanimous vote is also required to remove a stipend that has been paid for six or more consecutive years.
Each year, the incidental fee climbs. The most common reason given by programs requesting additional funding is state-mandated payroll increases.
ASUO President Jared Axelrod said he thinks the incidental fee is fair.
“I say that meaning students are getting a good deal for the amount of services students are provided,” he said. “Students don’t realize how far their incidental fee goes.”
Senior Loren Snow agreed that he does not know exactly what services his student fee pays for, but that he definitely uses the athletic tickets.
“I try to use a lot of the services because I’m paying for them. I probably don’t use all of them,” he said.
Despite the fact that Snow uses the athletic tickets, he would not be opposed to a per-use fee, he said.
“It’s more fair if you look at how many people pay for those tickets and how many people use those tickets,” he said. “If you want to go to a game or something, then you should have to pay for it.”
Student Sen. Athan Papailiou said there are areas where the student government could improve, but that the government is operating as best it can under current guidelines.
“As long as we are managing and allocating (the fee) responsibly, then it is at the right level,” he said.
Whether seven students should control $10.5 million is not a question that can be answered simply. The “prior knowledge” factor is one Axelrod is familiar with, having appointed seven senators since the start of the school year.
“It’s going to differ year to year how (PFC members) accomplish their goals. For the most part, they can be relied upon to allocate the incidental fee as well as possible,” he said.
Snow said he would like to see more student involvement in decision making. He doubts the student government is representative because there is such low voter turnout each year.
Papailiou had some reservations.
“I definitely think there are some areas where we could renegotiate,” he said. However, Papailiou said services provided by the ASUO are in high demand, so students will continue to receive and pay for them.
Both Papailiou and Axelrod said they believe the relationship between the University administration and the ASUO is a healthy one, but neither would like to see more administrative involvement in student government affairs.
“I think we have a close relationship with the University. I think they would prefer we be autonomous,” Axelrod said. “We kind of like our autonomy and I don’t foresee it being taken away.”
Papailiou said the ASUO is “fortunate” that University President Dave Frohnmayer respects the way student government operates.
“We should have control of where we believe our money should be allocated. Those rights should continue to be granted,” he said.
Snow said he doesn’t think the ASUO has a very good record, citing the Sun River retreat in 2004, when student money was spent on a retreat where student government members smoked pot and drank alcohol, and last year’s Iran resolution, a highly discussed attempt to encourage U.S. pressure against Iran’s nuclear program, as cases of irresponsibility.
“I think they’ve spent a lot of time wasting student money,” he said.
Oregon State University
Only students at Oregon State University are close to paying student fees in the same range as University students. OSU charges a $192.15 incidental fee per term.
Although students control the amount of the incidental fee, Associated Students of Oregon State University President Michael Olsen said the ASOSU has a budget of $791,020.
Olsen explained the fee is broken down into many different departments, with student government, recycling, athletics, rec sports, transit, health services, the memorial union and music all taking a portion.
“A large portion ends up going to ASOSU, but not all of it,” he said. ASOSU falls under an umbrella board, the Educational Activities Board, and the portion that board allots is $28.29 of the overall incidental fee.
At the University of Oregon, the student government sets all budgets that come from the incidental fee.
ASOSU’s funding procedure is similar to the process of funding within the ASUO, albeit more complicated.
Several student budgeting boards extensively review each line item in each budget and analyze how those dollars are spent. The boards then make a presentation to an incidental fee committee.
The fee committee uses these recommendations to set the fee level for the following year. The committee then makes presentations to the ASOSU senates. There are two, an undergraduate senate made up of 41 undergraduate students and a graduate senate made up of nine graduate students.
The UO Student Senate is one body, made up of 18 senators.
The senates do not have the power to change the budgets presented to them, and instead have only a veto power, Olsen said.
“If the senates disagree with the budgets, it gets sent to a mediation process,” Olsen said. “It creates a lot of work for the student government.”
Olsen said the government is considering a way to combine the senates this year.
“They are responsible for the exact same purposes, mainly approving funding,” he said.
This money buys OSU students many of the same services provided by the ASUO. ASOSU sponsors childcare subsidies, a shutt
le called the Beaver Bus (paid for in part by the city of Corvallis and local businesses), and a program called Saferide, which offers rides around Corvallis at night. It also pays for 30 student stipend positions and five professional positions within the executive branch, as well as student and parent advocates, and legal advising services.
The two main elected branches of government, the ASOSU and the Memorial Union Programs Council, provide different types of services.
“What you will see at most other universities is the student government encompasses both programming and what is seen as the traditional student government, creating change and voice,” Olsen said.
Events such as a battle of the bands or moms and dads days are put on by the Memorial Union Programs Council.
“They do all the fun programming on campus,” Olsen said.
ASOSU is responsible for issue-based events, such as community, environmental and federal affairs.
Olsen said most student organizations get funding from the Educational Activities Board, the same board that funds the ASOSU. Olsen said some groups qualify for funding by the Student Involvement Board or the MU Board.
“It takes a lot of money to fund all the student programs and initiatives that are so important to our student experience,” Olsen said. “I know that sometimes students feel that government just costs them money.”
Olsen said the student government recently helped students save money by changing the add/drop policy, which reduced the fee for dropping a class within the first two weeks from 15 percent to zero. The government also revamped a program designed to help hungry students. The new program offers up to $250 to students that can be spent at any of the campus eateries.
Olsen said he doesn’t like the idea that students struggle to pay fees.
“Not all student are aware what their student fees go to and that’s why they’re uncomfortable paying them,” he said.
Olsen said the tiers of the funding process ensure, “this money is going to what students want.”
University of Arizona
Carrie Pixler, treasurer for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, said the student government has a budget of about $1.1 million.
The 36,805 students at the University of Arizona pay $97 per year in student fees, $2 of which goes to support the student government.
Many of the positions within the government are appointed, but the top executive officers, with the exception of the treasurer and all 10 at-large senators, are elected.
The ASUA allots small stipends to about half the estimated 100 workers with the student government. The government also employs six full-time staff members, but unlike the University of Oregon, the legal services adviser does not actually represent students in court. Pixler said the student government was working on a program that would provide an attorney for students for $25.
Pixler said the bulk of the ASUA funding comes from profit sharing with the bookstore, which the student government once owned. The student government sued to retain some profit from the bookstore when the administration decided to take the bookstore back.
Another revenue generator is the Spring Fling, which Pixler said is the largest student-run carnival in the nation, and is sponsored by Pepsi.
Pixler said she feels the ASUA is “in a better position” than the ASUO as far as where funding comes from.
“Student money goes into the bookstore, and they want to help us give money back to students, and this is how we do it,” she said. Pixler was shocked by the amount of the incidental fee at the University.
“It’s unfortunate there is a fee that high for the student government,” she said. “I would hope the student government would work diligently to find other funding sources.”
Unlike the ASUO, the ASUA is a department of the university, and Pixler said the $1 million they spend is highly controlled.
“We can’t spend a dime here without leaving a paper trail,” she said.
The executive officers allocate fee money in the summer and the direction of funding is determined by the vision of that year’s government.
“This year for example – the ASUA Executive Officers decided to make club funding and Safe Ride a priority for student government. As such, both areas were allotted the highest amount they’ve been given since their inception,” she said.
The student government supports over 600 clubs by allotting them about $150,000.
The ASUA offers 13 programs and services, including the Safe Ride program that provides free rides to students, faculty and staff, and a speakers board responsible for bringing speakers, including Michael Moore and the cast of “Napoleon Dynamite” to the Arizona campus.
Pixler said it is relatively easy for clubs to receive funding.
Club advocates work with student clubs to process paperwork and also make arguments to the appropriations board.
Pixler said the advocates “essentially take care of the whole process.”
An organization present on all the public universities in Arizona is a legislative lobbying group called the Arizona Students’ Association and is funded by a $1 fee paid by all students.
“Any fee we would institute, which we would never do, we would put through a student referendum,” Pixler said. “Any fee has to be approved by the administration and the board of regents.”
Pixler said she feels that a close relationship between the student government and the administration of the university is a good thing.
“You have to remain close to the administration to really get things done for students,” she said.
University of Washington
The services and activities fee at the University of Washington in Seattle is $99 per term. It funds the student government, student publications, childcare and student legal services to name a few.
The University of Washington’s largest campus, in Seattle, had enrollment of 38,788 for winter term.
Last year, the student government in Seattle spent about $1.02 million; it earned $428,135 and requested $586,087 in student activity fee money.
Finance and Budget Director Jonathan Evans said the student fee is determined by a Staff Committee, a group of seven voting members selected from the ASUW and the Graduate Professional Students’ Senate, and five non-voting members selected from the university’s staff and administration. Student appointments are approved by the Vice Provost of Student Life, as is the final budget approved by this committee. Once the vice provost has signed off on the budget, the State Board of Regents has the final say to set the student fee.
Evans said in the past the government used projections from the administration to budget for the next year, but found that more students enrolled year after year, creating surplus.
Currently, the ASUO has a surplus budget of $800,000.
The ASUW then decided to ask simply for the lump sum that the government had budgeted.
“One thing we noticed was that those surplus funds were covering up a great number of deficits,” Evans said. Some of the ASUW programs had been overspending, and Evans said the government is facing “very large deficits from last year.”
The ASUO cannot cover up misspending here with surplus funds because that money is placed in a special account.
The ASUW supports student minority commissions, similar to the UO’s Black Student Union or MeCHA. The government pays for programming, a bike shop (which generates revenue), an experimental college (which also generates revenue), a radio station and various committees like student housing affairs.
Evans called the Bike Shop and the Experimental College enterprises that have become “problem childs” of the ASUW. The programs are anticipated to bring in as much as they spend, but Evans said that is not always the case.
Evans said he does not consider the Staff Committee to be part of the student government.
“The Staff Committee is to student government what
the Board of Regents is to the University,” he said. The committee provides financial backing while ensuring student money is being well-spent and benefiting students as a whole.
The Staff Committee is responsible for funding many of the student government-initiated programs on campus, said Evans.
“The ASUW over the last 100 years has started a great number of things. Those things have branched off to become their own entities,” he said.
The Staff Committee funds a health center, an intramural activities center, the student union, the GPSS, childcare assistance, legal services and student publications.
“The Staff Committee has quite a large budget,” Evans said.
Evans said the more than $1 million he helps to budget is more than enough for him.
“Having $10 million would just about kill me here,” he said.
When told the Senate has final say over budgeting student fees at the University, Evans said, “We certainly would not leave that in the hands of our student senate.”
He added, “There is some trouble with our student senate” and that the group is not a strong enough body to entrust with that much power.
“That surprises me a great deal,” he said.
Evans said the student government conducted an informal poll to find out how students felt about the government.
“One thing we heard more than anything was how frustrated people were with bureaucracy,” Evans said. He said because the ASUW is both a nonprofit and a student government it is inherent there are inefficiencies.
“We have around 80 pages of bylaws. It makes it very difficult for anyone to find anything,” he said.
Directors for all committees and commissions, as well as the many of the executive staff, are paid by the hour. The president of the ASUW makes $13,401 per year, or $11.33 per hour.
Evans said all those on payroll put in more hours than are on their budget sheets.
“We can’t afford to pay everyone as much as they probably deserve to be paid,” he said, adding he does the job for reasons other than money.
The satellite campuses of the University of Washington have their own governments and budgets.
In Tacoma, the final student government budget was $558,572. The fee of $106 per quarter funds: student government, tutors, security escorts, childcare assistance and student organizations. The student government Web site says it allocates about $2 million. Enrollment at the campus is 2,273.
In Bothell, the student fee is $91 and the student government has an annual budget estimated at $400,000. The campus has enrollment for winter term of 1,687 students.
UCLA
Enrollment at UCLA in fall 2005 was 24,811 undergraduates. This year, the Undergraduate Student Association collected $119.73 from each student to fund student groups and activities. The student union is funded through an additional fee of $19.50, the rec center is funded by a $45 fee, and seismic upgrades for two campus buildings are also collected, costing $113. Yet one more fee funds a complex for student activities, costing students $84.
There are 13 elected officers in the USAUCLA. The USA president appoints more than 70 undergraduates to administrative committees.
The USAUCLA fee can only be raised through referendum, an open vote of the student body.
UC-Berkeley
At UC-Berkeley, the associated students collect $27.50 from their constituents. ASUC is completely autonomous from its university, and has a budget of $1,493,100. The University collects additional money to fund the student center, a sports facility and rec sports, among others. ASUC does not provide large-scale projects and instead allocates its money to student-initiated services groups and student activities groups. The school had an undergraduate enrollment of 23,863, but the more than 10,000 graduate students pay student fees as well.
There are 20 Senators and five elected executive officers, but the constitution gives the Senate sole authority over ASUC funded budgets and the overall budget each year. Senate may change student fees through referendum approved by students, the university and the board of regents.
PSU
Portland State University’s incidental fees are capped at $167 per term for students taking 12 or more credits. The Student Fee Committee consists of seven members. The chair and five members are elected at-large and one seat is appointed by the ASPSU president. Student government reported bringing in $8,238,409 in the 2005-06 school year. It spent $16,410,168. The student incidental fee made up the difference of $8,171,759.
ASPSU generates revenue through many avenues. They sell merchandise, concessions and food, tickets to events, charge dues and membership fees, and receive grants, sponsorships or gifts, among many other money-making ventures.
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