Three students and one university administrator — the Student Activity Fee Committee — were responsible for allocating more than $3.2 million of student money this year.
Each semester, students pay $5.95 per credit hour — $89.25 for a student enrolled in 15 hours — in student-activity fees.
The money generated from the fees was distributed to seven student-focused departments March 4. Counseling and Testing Services, Number Nyne Crisis Center, Fitness and Recreation, the Dean of Students, Student Life and Student Media have operated under the same student-fee allocation for the last two years, while UOSA’s allocation has increased each year since 2009, according to the budget in the OU Board of Regents agenda.
UOSA’s budget increased $12,470.20 after Student Activity Fee Committee members — UOSA President Franz Zenteno, Student Congress Chairman Brett Stidham, Graduate Student Senate Chairman Derrell Cox and Student Affairs Vice President Clarke Stroud — unanimously agreed with Stroud’s recommendation to allot the money to UOSA.
The additional $12,470.20 was made available after the university’s chief financial officer, Chris Kuwitzky, projected an increase in student-activity fee revenue. Projections are based on enrollment and fee-collection trends.
Counseling and Testing Services, the university’s primary mental-health agency, was the only other department to apply for a budget increase.
Because student organizations rely on funding through UOSA, and UOSA’s budget is funded entirely through student-activity fees, the Student Activity Fee Committee decided this would be the best use of student-activity fees, Stroud said.
Other departments receive only a portion of their funding through student-activity fees. For example, 44 percent of Counseling and Testing’s budget comes from student-activity fees, while state funding accounts for 44.5 percent and department sales and services make up 11.5 percent.
Every year, Student Affairs organizations must submit funding requests to the Student Activity Fee Committee for review early in the spring semester. After reviewing the requests, the committee creates and approves a budget that must then be approved by the OU Board of Regents.
The board approved the student-activity fee budget at its March 24 meeting.
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