Funds, answers missing

April 30, 2009 by Haley Etchison 

Funding request turns up decade-old flaw in student government funding

A discrepancy between law and practice have student government looking for missing money.

Since it was revised and ratified by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents on Oct. 4, 1984, the CSUN Constitution has declared that the undergraduate student government should be allocated no less than 5 percent of student fees for all students taking seven or more credits.

But CSUN received only $2.47 per credit – 1.9 percent – for the 2008-2009 academic year and relevant sources cannot remember a time when funding followed the written policy.

CSUN’s business manager, Savannah Baltera, explained, “From what I can tell looking back it has been based on a flat dollar-per-credit rate, not the 5 percent.”

Comprehensive records that could show whether CSUN ever received 5 percent of student fees are currently unavailable, as they have not all been consistently archived. 

For as long available records show, CSUN’s annual funding from the university has come from a $9 per credit activities and programs fee.

Until this year, students taking six or fewer credits gave $3.40 of the $9 to CSUN and those taking seven or more credits gave $2.40 of their $9.

For the 2009 fiscal year, the allocation was adjusted so that all students contributed $2.47 per credit to CSUN, resulting in a more equal distribution of costs among students but the same total budget.

Both Gerry Bomotti, senior vice president for finance and business, and Juanita Fain, vice president for student affairs, said they do not know if CSUN has ever received the 5 percent of student fees it is supposed to.

“It’s possible way back in time that this amount, $2.47, was 5 percent,” Bomotti said. “Likely that that happened a long time ago. It certainly hasn’t been that for a long time.”

When asked if a switch was ever made from a percent-based system and why, Fain said, “To be honest…we don’t know the answer.”

Student fees were $129.50 per credit for the 2008-09 academic year. The cost per credit will increase to $136 for 2009-10. The current $2.47 fee would have to be almost tripled, to $6.80, to measure up to the 5 percent required by the CSUN constitution for next year, given the tuition hike.

The discrepancy was brought no light at the April 20 CSUN meeting during the Senate’s discussion with Fain about possible increases in student fees.

Fain admitted that, like the CSUN representatives, she did not know the problem existed before it came up in the meeting.

“I’m doing a review of the history because I didn’t know this was a problem,” she said.

In 2001, CSUN officials noticed the problem and sought $359,000 that they believed NSHE owed them. However, Fain explained, “They agreed that it would be fiscally impossible to pay them retroactively.”

Then-Student Body President Paul Moradkhan succeeded in acquiring $250,000 for CSUN from the Board of Regents as back payment for fees they should have received according to the constitution, but the discrepancy was never resolved in the laws.

“The issue is I don’t know what happened after that,” Fain explained. “What should have probably happened is there probably should have been some system or some agreement as to how we go forward from here, but I can’t find anything.”

“I think what happened is we went on with business as usual and then we had a new student government and maybe they didn’t look at it as closely,” Fain said.

At Monday’s Senate meeting, Fain emphasized her willingness to cooperate with student leaders to resolve the discrepancy, explaining that she is working to find the best course of action.

Current Student Body President Adam Cronis said that in light of the current budget crisis, he would not support any immediate action to seek payment of possible outstanding funds.

“It’s my judgment that any sort of plans for that would have to be over the long term,” he said. “I wouldn’t support an effort to get that money back right now. There are very difficult circumstances the university is facing and student government getting money back that it may or may not be owed would have to happen over several years.”

Cronis concluded, “It would not be fair or equitable to do something like that for the short term.”

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Savannah Baltera is also the business manager of The Rebel Yell.

The Rebel Yell receives 8 percent of CSUN’s annual budget.