Each year, SGA is responsible to assign money from the undergraduate student fees to pay for some of the activities and events sponsored by student organizations. This semester, the SGA has been working at updating and restructuring the budget that comes from student fees. SGA has especially worked closely with Common Grounds since the Lilly Grant, which funded a huge portion of their expense, has run out. SGA, as well as the Student Life Office, is committed to work to keep Common Grounds in business as they are an integral part of campus life.
Because of this situation, the SGA Senate has passed a proposal to raise the student fees $20 per semester beginning fall 2010. Currently, the fee is $50 per semester that a student is on campus. This fee has not increased for many years, and it is a fee that is substantially lower than most campuses that charge over $100 per semester. Within our restructuring, this increase would go heavily towards Common Grounds, help the Shen yearbook create a more sustainable structure, create space for CAC to provide larger or additional concerts, and account for inflation and new student groups that will be eligible for funding.
Before it goes to the President’s Cabinet for final approval, a majority of the wider SGA—that is, all voting undergraduate students—need to affirm this increase. With this small increase, Common Grounds will be able to stay in business and the budget will be better equipped for the next several years. There will be a vote on Monday December 14 requesting your affirmation of this increase. If you have any questions, feel free to email sga@emu.edu.
I think Common Grounds is far too valuable to forgo a $20 increase… especially if it hasn’t been raised in 5 years.
This sounds like a fine idea by me. It would be well worth it and would be going towards things that make sense and are important.
Well, speaking for us commuters, all I can say is that many of us do not come even close to taking full advantage of the $50 fee that we pay already. We ARE aware of the activities going on, but because we live off campus many times it is just inconvenient to return to campus. For example, speaking from personal experience, commuters get great deals in the caf on Thursdays but its more convenient, many times, for me to just go home where I eat and settle down to do homework. Increasing the fee might be a reasonable proposal for those who live on campus and are able to take advantage of student activities, but not so much for those of us who live off campus.