The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
On Thursday Oct. 3, a new bill was passed unanimously for allocable segregated fees to only be raised up to one percent per year over the next two fiscal years.
This financial guideline can help all student organizations, subsidy receiving departments and special campus projects better plan for their budgets.
Segregated fees are around $1,200 per student annually. This money helps fund many things on campus like student life, intramurals, organizations, and more.
In the last two years, the allocable segregated fees have increased by about $70 per student and around 25 percent.
The Student Government Association has been noticing this change and many have decided to try to fix the problem.
“Myself and other members of SGA drafted up a 1 percent ceiling for the next three years,” said Ryan Specht, President of SGA. “This is the first time SGA has ever tried to do long term fiscal planning. Normally it’s a year to year plan.”
Once this plan was brought to the debate that was held on Oct. 3, a compromise was made to have the allocable segregated fees to only rise by up to 1 percent per year over the course of the next two fiscal years.After these two years, a new plan will come forward and be put into action.
“This is an absolute wonderful step towards greater fiscal responsibility because basically we will have a biannual policy,” Specht said.
With this change, the amount students are currently paying for allocable segregated fees will not change much.
“The goal is for them to not see a difference,” Specht said. This should help with planning for the future for students as well as organizations.
“I’ve been here two years so it would have jumped a lot since, it will be nice to see around the same numbers,” said student, Brianna Todaro. Since larger numbers are what normally catch student’s attention, this statute can help make sure that students will not see those growing numbers under segregated fees.
With money being such a large part of living on your own and trying to make ends meet, college students are often known for rationing.
“Whatever can keep costs lower, will always be a good thing,” said student, Elliot Bunker.
With this change, the UWSP campus community will be able to more efficiently plan their spending individually and on campus organizations will be able to spend their money more wisely to create a great atmosphere on campus.
Emily Margeson
