Students will pay significantly less money to fund the Career Center next year, thanks in part to the efforts of members of the ASUO Executive.
ASUO President Jared Axelrod, Vice President Juliana Guzman and Finance Coordinator Madeline Wigen sent out a memo Friday announcing that the administration had agreed to absorb $106,000 of the Career Center budget into the University General Fund. This will shave $2 per student, per term off of the incidental fee for the 2007-08 school year.
“This commitment by the University will significantly relieve some of the strain on the incidental fee, as well as on student’s (sic) already strained pockets,” the memo reads. “It is the understanding of the University President, for which the ASUO Executive wholeheartedly agrees, that the ASUO continue to manage the student incidental fee in a manner that minimizes costs to students in the future.”
Axelrod was quick to point out that this action was not solely his effort. Other members of the ASUO Executive were involved, and the Career Center was on board with the idea of having less of its budget come from students’ pockets, Axelrod said.
“They knew about the struggles with the PFC process this year, and they were gracious enough to help out,” Axelrod said.
He said he and last year’s ASUO President Adam Walsh entered into talks with the administration over the Career Center budget last spring.
“It wasn’t exactly sustainable on the i-fee and it was something that was in line with the goal and mission of the University,” ASUO Finance Coordinator Madeline Wigen said of the Career Center. “We felt it really was something that should be funded more by general funds than by incidental fee funds.”
The memo also requests that the Programs Finance Committee recall the Career Center budget in order to make it reflect the administration’s decision.
PFC Chairman Oscar Guerra did not return a phone message by deadline, but Axelrod said he thinks the PFC is going to hear the budget recall on Tuesday.
Axelrod said he is excited that the administration has “stepped up” to take care of this issue.
“This is a much-needed step,” he said. “It wasn’t something on our campaign platform per se but it was definitely something we wanted to get accomplished. It just goes to show that we wanted to look at other ways of how to decrease the incidental fee.”
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