2/28/20 SFAC Minutes

SFAC Meeting

Friday, Feb. 28, 2020

3:00-4:00pm

Knights Valley Room

MINUTES

 

SFAC Members:

  • Arden Childers, AS Vice President for Finance; SFAC Co-Chair
  • Katryna Johnson, AS Senator for Sustainability;
  • Melissa Ann Kadar, Exec VP of AS;
  • Elias Lopez, Sr. AVP for Academic Resources, as designee for VP for Student Affairs, and SFAC Co-Chair; (absent)
  • Emily Miller, AS VP of External Affairs; (absent – unable to attend for rest of semester)
  • Leonel “Leo” Navarro, AS Senator for Business and Economics as designee for AS President;
  • Elizabeth O’Brien, Seawolf Services Center Director, 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 

 

Non-Voting SFAC Members:

  • Hayley Avery, Budget Manager, University Budget and Planning 
  • Erik Dickson, Executive Director, Associated Students;
  • David Crozier, 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 3:04pm by Arden Childers, Co-Chair of SFAC.

AGENDA

1. Approve Minutes of 2/14/20

Childers called for changes; hearing none, minutes were unanimously approved.

 

2. Course Fees Online Form (review)      Erik Dickson

Category II Course Fee Request Form has been converted from WORD format to Qualtrics. There will be hard deadlines for submission in order to meet a March 1 deadline for Presidential decision.

October 1 is the deadline to submit and March 1 for Presidential approval in order to implement the fee the following Fall semester.

Dickson went over the form with the committee:

  • New fee requests include fee criteria per EO 1102  
  • If they select “Adjust a fee”, they will be routed to a different set of questions.
  • One question asks if there are alternative resources rather than charging a fee.
  • There will also be a question about the budget and there will be a link to a budget template
  • Specific questions will depend on the type of request:  Apply for new course fee, adjust a fee, decrease a fee or discontinue a fee.

Two primary questions:

  1. Things that aren’t connected to a course. Example, Chemistry charged a course fee for lab equipment which was not tied to a specific course and was for materials that should have been provided as instructional materials. One of the questions identifies what materials are provided by the university and what “exceptional” expenses the course fee will cover. Course fees should not be charged for basic instructional materials.
  2. What additional sources of revenue are being applied for or used to cover the expenses such as IRA Fee, category 4 fee, etc.?

The last part of the form includes notifying the School Senator. This is a little trickier to automate since email addresses change.

3.  Course Fees Approval Process (review)     Erik Dickson

The Department Chair submits the course fee application. It is automatically sent to School Dean and School Senator. When the Dean approves it, it will go to Elias Lopez who approves it to go to SFAC. SFAC can recommend for, against or with a modification to the President via President’s Decision Memo. Then the President makes a final decision. After this, Administration and Finance posts the fee on the website and applies it to the fee schedule for students enrolled in the Fall semester.

We will post the Qualtrics form and FAQs with clear timeline table, and instructions on the SFAC website.

4. Workgroup Update on Course Fees & Category IV Fees (information) Hayley Avery

Lizzie O’Brien, Nikki Andersen, Erik Dickson, Hayley Avery, and Melissa Kadar met to review course fee balances that were less than 50% expended. They will request explanations next week and follow-up during Spring break. They will then review responses and provide recommendations to SFAC by April 10.

In 2021 SFAC can expect to see a lot of requests to Category II – IV fees as a reaction to the budget.

Childers concluded the meeting at 3:40pm.

Minutes submitted by Sue Hardisty.