The California State University Chancellor’s Office reinstated the ability for Associated Students Inc. to charge a $33 fee per student during summer sessions.
As previously reported by the Daily 49er on March 10, the CSU Chancellor’s Office issued guidelines on March 8 denying the 23 CSU campuses charging a summer ASI fee.
According to ASI President Chris Chavez, on May 5, the CSU Chancellor’s Office issued Executive Order 1047 to reclassify summer school sessions as special sessions rather than as an extension service.
Since ASI is now allowed to collect a summer fee, there is a projected restoration of a little more than $220,000 for the 2010-11 budget. The originally gap was projected to be around $400,000 when CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said in March that ASI could not charge the summer fee.
Before the announcement of the executive order, ASI had planned on dipping into “retained earnings,” which is funding used in cases of economic emergencies, according to Chavez. He said they had planned on using $68,000 from this fund.
Chavez said that now, however, in gaining almost half of the original deficit back by being able to charge a summer fee, the loss was “more manageable.” And while there is still approximately a $200,000 ASI deficit for the 2010-11 school year, ASI was “able to compensate for it,” Chavez said.
“We have a budget that has been approved to fund organizations,” said College of Liberal Arts Senator Jameson Nyeholt at the Wednesday ASI Senate meeting. “ASI will be collecting the summer fee as a way to fix the budget.”
In helping to close the gap in the budget, ASI also renegotiated the dues owed to the California State Student Association (CSSA), which is the statewide student association.
For the 2010-11 school year ASI will not have to rely on the university to pay for the CSSA dues as it had done for 2009-10, since it is now able to charge the summer fee and was able to cut in other areas, according to Chavez.
According to a Daily 49er article from Nov. 1, 2007, ASI hadn’t been involved in CSSA since pulling out in 2005. And in a Sept. 10, 2009 Daily 49er article, it was reported that “outside funding” from the university — not from students — was used to pay the 2009-10 dues in order for CSULB to participate in CSSA.
In the 2009 article Chavez said, “We need every asset that we have available to speak out and really fight these budget cuts and convince California toinvest in higher education.”
Currently, Chavez said it is important that CSULB has a voice in CSSA because of the need to do lobbying for education funding at the state level. He said that CSULB needs to be able “to hold weight” in this student body.
President F. King Alexander, who attended the senate meeting, added that this was still only a projected amount and that “the final budget [amount] is still uncertain.”
The $220,000 restored budget for next year is based on a head count of approximately 6,000-7,000 students for summer enrollment.
Plans in ASI for the next two weeks include a follow-up to the lobbying visits done earlier in the semester.
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