Students decide how money is spent
David Thill/Student government editor
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: News
Many students would like the chance to decide where the money they spend to attend Eastern is being spent. Thanks to the Tuition and Fee Review Committee, some students on campus do.
The committee is one of nine, which function as part of the Student Senate.
According to Student Government bylaws, the committee "shall serve as an advisory committee to the president on tuition increases ... shall advise the vice president for student affairs on all proposed fee increases other than the University Union Fee and Room and Board Fees." They shall also review information on the funding status of general areas as well as reviewing fee increase proposals.
Mark Bates, tuition and fee review committee chair, explained the committee's function a bit more.
"A department will go to (Vice President for student affairs) Daniel Nadler and will propose a fee increase," Bates said. "Then the department comes to us (the committee), and we make a recommendation to Student Senate as to whether or not to grant the increase."
That department must also present its proposal presentation to the committee, Bates said. The committee can then ask "any questions of them we want," he said.
Bates said he asks what the increased money would go toward and how it would be spent.
"Let's say a department has salaries, or minimum wage, go up," Bates said. "We would say 'Well, how many workers do you have? Do you really need the increase for all of those workers?' That's the kind of thing we ask."
Many universities don't have the type of shared governance Eastern does, which allows students a certain level of say over where their money is being spent, Bates said.
However, the committee only has a say in proposed increases in mandatory fees, Bates said. But when an organization needs to go to the Apportionment Board to ask for an increase or line item transfer, the request must still go past Bates and the review committee first. That is usually just a technicality, though, Bates said.
"It's just more red tape, really," Bates said. "We won't vote, 'No, you can't go ask for more money.'
"It (the committee) is basically just a form of checks and balances so AB can't just go throwing money around."
And once the presentation has been made to the committee, it must then go to the Student Senate and give that same presentation to the senate as a whole, Bates said.
"Our job is to do the leg work to verify what and organization is saying," Bates said. "Usually Student Senate follows our recommendation."
Occasionally, Bates said, organizations don't spend the money they are given on the original purpose.
"We are a student advisory board. Once we give out the money, we can't take it back," he said. "But we can make a hell of a noise about it."
The committee is one of nine, which function as part of the Student Senate.
According to Student Government bylaws, the committee "shall serve as an advisory committee to the president on tuition increases ... shall advise the vice president for student affairs on all proposed fee increases other than the University Union Fee and Room and Board Fees." They shall also review information on the funding status of general areas as well as reviewing fee increase proposals.
Mark Bates, tuition and fee review committee chair, explained the committee's function a bit more.
"A department will go to (Vice President for student affairs) Daniel Nadler and will propose a fee increase," Bates said. "Then the department comes to us (the committee), and we make a recommendation to Student Senate as to whether or not to grant the increase."
That department must also present its proposal presentation to the committee, Bates said. The committee can then ask "any questions of them we want," he said.
Bates said he asks what the increased money would go toward and how it would be spent.
"Let's say a department has salaries, or minimum wage, go up," Bates said. "We would say 'Well, how many workers do you have? Do you really need the increase for all of those workers?' That's the kind of thing we ask."
Many universities don't have the type of shared governance Eastern does, which allows students a certain level of say over where their money is being spent, Bates said.
However, the committee only has a say in proposed increases in mandatory fees, Bates said. But when an organization needs to go to the Apportionment Board to ask for an increase or line item transfer, the request must still go past Bates and the review committee first. That is usually just a technicality, though, Bates said.
"It's just more red tape, really," Bates said. "We won't vote, 'No, you can't go ask for more money.'
"It (the committee) is basically just a form of checks and balances so AB can't just go throwing money around."
And once the presentation has been made to the committee, it must then go to the Student Senate and give that same presentation to the senate as a whole, Bates said.
"Our job is to do the leg work to verify what and organization is saying," Bates said. "Usually Student Senate follows our recommendation."
Occasionally, Bates said, organizations don't spend the money they are given on the original purpose.
"We are a student advisory board. Once we give out the money, we can't take it back," he said. "But we can make a hell of a noise about it."
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