The UVUSA student council conducted its final student fee hearing for the year, hearing from both the athletic department and School of the Arts; both departments requested to maintain their fee.
Members of the student council met in the council chambers on Jan. 26, in order to hear presentations from both departments on their expenses and where they hope to expand in the coming years. This has led many departments to speculate that they will need to raise their fees to accommodate for inflation and COLA increases across the state.
“We will be in the hole this year simply because of travel costs,” Jared Sumsion, Director of Athletics, stated during his presentation. “We know what the governor is saying, and we’re working around that.”
According to the athletics department, they saw a 42% increase in their travel expenses in the last year, which amounted to nearly two million dollars. Sumsion also expressed concerns about their staff being underpaid and worries about the rising costs of equipment and other expenses.
Jim Godfrey, Associate Dean of the School of the Arts, presented on behalf of the department. The arts saw a $31,094 surplus in their budget last year, and they are expecting to expand further in the coming years to put on more programs for students. This would particularly come from collaborations with other departments.
“We would also like to figure out ways to increase our collaboration … our campus partners this year,” Godfrey said. “We want to figure out ways that we can piggyback off what you are doing, and you can piggyback off what we are doing.”
The student council fee proposal should be drafted and ready for public comment in the coming weeks, along with a future discussion on tuition that will be held Feb. 16.
For more information on student fees and important hearing dates, visit the UVUSA website.
