The Associated Students of the University of Oregon passed a resolution to process an incidental fee refund of $15 to every UO student on May 20, their last meeting of spring term. UO administration later rejected the resolution, citing concerns of decreased enrollment and low financial returns.
The incidental fee, which was $259.25 for the 2019-2020 school year, “directly supports thousands of services, programs, and endeavors that fall within ASUO’s mission to provide for the social, cultural, education, and physical development of its members and for the advancement of their individual and collective interests,” according to the ASUO website. Some of these services include Safe Ride, the Women’s Center, Lane Transit District, legal services and student activities and organizations.
Many of these services changed when UO moved classes online to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“A lot of our student groups and departments tried to put stuff online, but it’s just not the same,” ASUO Senator Nick Keough said. “It doesn’t build community the same as what these I-Fee dollars are supposed to do.”
Keough worked with other senators to push for a refund of the incidental fee. “I started lobbying all the senators and explaining to them the importance of getting students money back that isn’t being utilized, especially during a global pandemic,” he said.
Eventually, other senators supported the idea and began reaching out to student groups, departments and EMU contracts to see which funds they could return. ASUO ultimately collected almost $214,000, Keough said.
“That took so much coordination,” he said. “We put weeks and hours of work into reaching out to everyone again and asking them to give money back. A lot of groups are in tough positions and still gave money back because they saw the value in giving students a refund.”
The Senate considered various refund amounts and, “picked one we felt like was really responsible, didn’t put us in too tough of a position and still got money back in students’ pockets,” Keough said.
At the final spring term senate meeting on May 20, ASUO passed a financial resolution that secured a $15 refund per student.
“We acknowledged that $15 wasn’t a lot,” he said, “but at the end of the day, it could be a few meals, half a tank of gas, and we saw the value in that.”
On June 10, the third-to-last day of spring term, Keough found out that the university administration would not process the refund, due to budget deficits caused by COVID-19.
Vice President for Student Life Kevin Marbury decided not to process the recommended $15 refund in order to protect ASUO’s financial stability in the fall.
“With the current COVID-19 crisis, the UO is facing the very real possibility of a drop in enrollment for fall term,” Marbury said in an emailed statement. “An enrollment drop of 4.7 percent would result in the loss of approximately $800,000 in Incidental Fee revenue and completely drain ASUO’s current reserve fund. Or it would result in significant cuts to services for students.”
The returned funds remain with ASUO for future distribution, according to Marbury. While ASUO is able to request the incidental fee’s amount and use, as well as suggest modifications to the existing incidental fee, UO’s administration has final decision-making authority, according to the Incidental Fee Authorization policy.
“It’s very upsetting,” Keough said. “We’re told all the time that we have a lot of autonomy over our budget, but I’m not sure how far our autonomy goes when admin can shut down anything that we do with the I-Fee.”
Although former ASUO Senate President Isaiah Boyd pushed for the refund, he ultimately accepted the administration’s decision.
“Thinking long term, having an abundance of surplus is beneficial for us, at least for students, because it enables us to protect the programs that they utilize and benefit from,” Boyd said.
According to Marbury, former ASUO Student Body President Sabinna Pierre declined the option to reduce the amount collected by the incidental fee. The fee will increase to $271.75 for fall term due to financial deficits.
Keough said he hopes to identify ways to reduce frequent ASUO deficits. “I’m going to be working with senators and ASUO exec this year to identify areas where the services we’re providing are redundant or where our services aren’t actually useful,” he said.
