11/20/19 SFAC Minutes

SFAC Meeting

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

4:00-5:00pm

Alexander Valley Room

Minutes

SFAC Members:

  • Arden Childers, AS Vice President for Finance; SFAC Co-Chair
  • Katryna Johnson, Student at Large;
  • Melissa Ann Kadar, Exec VP of AS;
  • Elias Lopez, Designee for VP for Student Affairs, and SFAC Co-Chair;
  • Emily Miller, AS VP of External Affairs;
  • Leonel “Leo” Navarro, Designee for AS President;
  • Elizabeth O’Brien, as designee for Joyce Lopes, VP for Admin. & Finance; 
  • Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean, School of Arts & Humanities as designee for Provost, VP for Academic Affairs; (absent)
  • Laura Watt, Chair of the Faculty; (absent)
  • Hilary C. Smith, Research Services & User Experience Librarian; Student Affairs Committee Rep (absent)

Non-Voting SFAC Members:

  • Hayley Avery, Budget Manager, University Budget and Planning 
  • Erik Dickson, Executive Director, Associated Students;
  • Susan Gutierrez, Director of Financial Aid; (absent)
  • Sue Hardisty, Administrative Assistant, VP for Student Affairs Office
  • Laura Monje-Paulson, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs (absent)

Meeting commenced at 4:04 p.m. by Elias Lopez, Co-Chair of SFAC.

AGENDA


1. Approve Minutes of 10/16/19 meeting

Lopez called for a motion to approve 10.16.19 minutes. Six approved (absent Childers); none opposed.

2. Review Category IV Fees (Hayley)

Dickson pulled up the Category IV Fees 5 Year report on the screen from the shared folder and Avery explained how to read the report.

Discussion items:

  • Avery noted that RT070 and RT071, and NT069 were closed after the last course fee review (in Summer 2018) revealed that the fees were no longer needed.
  • NT019 was for the New Student Orientation Program. This has changed to RT133.  The sizeable balance is because staff are paid from this fund.
  • Hayley will re-run report with spend-down percentages called out. Hayley offered to send out email to the schools to ask about balances.
  • All category IV funds are essentially fees for service.
  • The president can establish category IV fees without SFAC review and recommendation. SFAC is involved in Category II and III.
  • Childers asked if there should be a process similar to Category II and II fee reviews for Category IV fees.
  • Lopez noted that fees that are for program accreditation could be treated differently than others, possibly not subject to review.
  • O’Brien wondered if it would be helpful to look at the trust fund agreements to see what criteria these fees were established under and what the historical data shows.
  • Pennies in the revenue figures includes interest.
  • There is no policy that requires that any of these fees carry reserves.

Action:

Avery will pull trust agreements and put them on the shared drive along with an updated Category IV Fees report with spend-down percentages.

Lopez suggested it be separated into two sections – those that need a reserve and those that don’t.

3. Course Fee Criteria from other CSUs (Dickson)

Dickson researched other campuses and collected policies and procedures and put them in the shared SFAC and IRA folder.  He showed Humboldt’s application forms: one for either IV or V, and one for II or III fees. The application included budget information, and feedback at the end of the year.

East Bay has an overview of the whole process, similar to our IRA training. Slide 13 has the proposal process for each fee all laid out in one page. Before it gets to SFAC, a senior administrator must sign off. At East Bay the senior administrator is the CFO. Dickson suggests inserting someone else in the process. Faculty may not know that Academic Affairs has other resources available for some of the supplies that faculty think a course fee is needed for.  Channel Islands has an actual schedule that faculty must meet. Different fee categories have specific deadlines.

Application should include narrative outcomes piece as well as a financial analysis on what exactly the fee will cover.

Lopez noted that the forms were fillable pdf’s. He wondered if Dickson had seen any qualtrics or online forms. Dickson said he did not think the university was ready to accept electronic signatures yet. We could have them complete the online form and once approved, then circulate the trust fund for wet signatures.

Dickson did not see any processes for fee increase requests. Humboldt asks for one complete year of historical actual revenue and expenditure data, and two years of prospective data. New proposals are for 3 years of prospective revenue and expenditure data.

Travel costs may be a major reason for requesting increased course fees, but faculty might need to be advised to cap enrollment at the seating capacity of a bus or van instead.  O’Brien feels having a simplified process for applying for the various fees available on the website would be helpful. Dickson will propose some ideas to a sub-committee. Dickson, Lopez and O’Brien will begin outlining the processes for establishing fees, and draft an application to share with the full committee.

4. Website Review for IRA & Course Fees (Childers)

Currently the only information about SFAC is on the Student Affairs website under “Committees”. The information includes committee composition and charge information and there is a page for posting of meeting agendas and minutes. There is no information about the application process or timelines. We don’t have a course fees website, just the policy.

SFAC would like to make it a goal this year to establish a website similar in structure to the IRA webpages to improve user experience. The website should include:

  • Links to the Course Fee and Fee Advisory Committee policies
  • A link to the Fees website
  • A link to the Open Book website
  • A link to the informational Fees powerpoint that was given to SFAC and IRA at the beginning of the academic year
  • An example of the Course Fee Trust Fund Agreement and an outline of the application process for establishing Category II – V fees including timelines.
  • The application process should include a narrative about why the fees are needed and financial data that supports that narrative. Application process may include a year-end report component to assess how the funds were utilized and if not fully expended, why not?

Committee members are asked to think of what other types of information they would like to see on this website. Childers suggested it would be helpful to provide contact information if students have questions and a method for reporting irregularities.

With no other comments for the good of the order, Childers concluded the meeting at 4:47pm.