The fiscal year 2016 student fee allotment for student affairs is already under discussion as organizations vie for a share.
The Student Affairs Fee Advisory Board, SAFAB, met Wednesday to discuss the requests brought forth by different student activities.
The nine board members, all A&M students, research the requests and give a recommendation for the next levels as to what the student body wants and needs.
“We’re voting on the [requests] as the voice of the students,” Alex Lambros, board member, said.
Among the requests brought forth Wednesday were Graduate and Professional Student Council, bringing in an IT Consultant at the MSC, expansion of student wages to keep the Lost & Found open longer, and many more. Each proposal asks for a certain amount of the budget collected from the fees all students pay at the beginning of each semester.
Shawn Burton, board member, said this year differs because the Student Service Fee and the University Fee have been combined into one budget, the University Advancement Fee.
“In the past, the University Fees and the student fees were very much distinct and separate,” Burton said. “Now, [after last year], the combining of both fees, pooling them together into what is now called the University Advancement Fees.”
The board went over each of the proposals, selecting which ones they would recommend to student government leaders this semester.
The requests not approved at the meeting can be brought back to the board the following year.
“We’re using student feedback, we’re using our own experiences with organizations and our degrees and deciding what the student body would want and then giving that on to the president,” Lambros said. “What’s not approved by us won’t move past this point.”
Each recommendation must receive a majority vote by the board before it can be put before Student Senate for a vote Wednesday.