Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                 Matt Dulin                   Tony Hernandez      Jim Parsons
                Jason Poland             Dusti Rhodes           Blake Whitaker

Committee must now make sense of dollars

The Student Fees Advisory Committee, after hearing 30 presentations from the sundry groups receiving money from the Student Service Fee, now gets to the real business: forming a recommendation as to how much money each unit should get.

Their decision will be based on a lot of factors, the first one being the amount of available funds -- a factor that relies on the number of students enrolled and the level of the fee. From what Elywn C. Lee, vice president for student affairs, told the committee Tuesday, the University will need to increase the fee by $10 to $160 to meet all of this year's funding requests. It is up to SFAC whether that should be part of its recommendation to UH President Jay Gogue.

Ideally, all student-oriented groups would get all the money they need to provide the best service possible. It's important that all groups be considered fairly, even if they do not benefit a lot of students -- groups like the Veterans Services Office, which serves relatively few students, but is still a necessary unit that needs student support. 

Part of the problem with assessing a group by the standard of "how many students benefit" is that some of the groups aren't as visible as others, and thus would not get as many students using the service. This begs the question as to whether groups are doing enough to make themselves known, a consideration that might tie into how much time or money a group has to spend on marketing.

If the committee is going to question to what extent a group serves the student body, it also needs to ask whether some groups even belong under the Student Service Fee umbrella -- they might be more effectively operated and funded if aligned with some other department on campus.

Not every unit needs every dollar it asked for, and some need it more than others. It would be wise for the committee to be moderate in its recommendation, and avoid asking for the full $10 increase. Students already have to look forward to other tuition and fee increases this year.