Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to include Calzada-Martinez’s suggestion to send a bill to mediation. This article originally claimed the bill was suggested to be sent back to the SFC, this information was incorrect.
The student government Senate held their first read-through of the Student Fee Committee’s fee recommendations for the 2027 fiscal year in the Memorial Union’s Horizon Room.
On Jan. 5, 8 and 10, the SFC heard presentations about fees and budgets for FY27 from each of the student fee-funded units at the university. On Tuesday, they presented their final recommendations to the Associated Students of Oregon State University Senate.
The first unit to be presented was the Basic Need Center. The SFC recommended a fee of $23.09 per student per term — a 5.97% increase from last year — for the BNC for FY27.
According to SFC Chair Saegis Abbott, the BNC’s operational costs have increased this year, which has led to the recommendation to increase student fee allocations to the BNC.
The SFC recommended a $10.65 fee per student per term for the Performing Arts, a 1.72% increase from last year.
The Senate, in a majority decision, found the recommendation of a 1.72% increase to be “pretty reasonable” and Senator Avery Lucchi said, “I would encourage my fellow senators to be bold and make a vote on this tonight,” in a move signaling the general approval of the recommendation by the Senate.
A large portion of the deliberations centered around the student fee budget for Student Experiences and Engagement, with some senators thinking the recommendations being made were either too high or too low.
The SFC recommended a $48.22 SEE charge per student per term, a 10.02% increase from last year. Part of the increase comes from a $2.50 raise in grant funding for clubs and organizations.
Several senators said they thought the fee was too high, and instead suggested a $1.25 fee increase for clubs and organization grants.
However, SFC SEE Liaison Mo Baumgarten said that the funds were “already insufficient” because students want to do and be in clubs at an “increased rate” and there is not enough money for them to do that.
According to Baumgarten, if a lower rate was passed this year, then SEE estimated they would have to increase fees by $2.50 per student per term for the next three years.
“(SEE) decided it was best not to kick that can down the road, and to enable students to access that money as soon as possible,” Baumgarten said.
Senator David Calzada-Martinez suggested the $2.50 raise wasn’t high enough and suggested sending the bill back to mediation so they could raise the fee to $2.55.
Orange Media Network — which The Daily Barometer is a part of — is included in SEE.
After much deliberation, the Senate decided they would not be willing to pass the bill as-is after the first reading.
For Recreational Sports, the SFC recommended a $9.35 student fee, an 8.34% increase from last year. A straw poll vote indicated this bill would pass as-is.
According to Abbott, the section for Recreational Sports has changed; it used to include the Dixon Recreation Center, but now only funds the sports clubs. However, at the time of publication, it is unclear why this change has been made.
The SFC recommended SafeRide, Office of Advocacy, and Student Legal Services — which are no longer a part of ASOSU — have a student fee charge of $21.93 per term, a 13.51% increase from last year. This increase incorporates two packages which seek to fund a Pro Staff position — which is no longer funded by Education and General Funds — and student payroll in the OA.
SafeRide, OA and SLS — once a part of ASOSU — are now their own unit, collectively known as SALS.
Director of the Office of Advocacy Nick North said that the steep increase comes from costs for supplies and services for the new unit’s three offices, including maintaining seven vehicles for SafeRide.
North said there were also several “unplanned-for balances” that the unit ran into in its recent split from ASOSU.
“With the unit split, the SALS unit is not taking any excess funds,” North said. “We’re taking the bare minimum for university policy … 30% of our operating budget, to give us how much the university asks us to keep in reserves.”
For ASOSU, the SFC recommended a student fee charge of $49.22 per term, a 5.67% decrease from last year.
Abbott also talked about a resolution to add an additional $25 fee for athletic tickets that was recently submitted to the University Budget Committee. The SFC voted unanimously that the resolution from the Athletics Department “violated the mutual trust” between ASOSU and athletics in their Memorandum of Understanding. At the time of publication, The Daily Barometer has not received a response regarding the details of the Jan. 9 UBC meeting.
Currently, students pay 61% fair market value for athletics tickets. If the Athletics Department’s resolution passed, it would mean students would pay nearly 100% market price for tickets, essentially negating the student discount.
The Senate voted to forego a second reading of the bill and sent it into mediation, wanting to deliberate over the topic further.
The SFC recommended a $0 fee for the Contingency Fund, a 100% reduction from last year, as Abbott said the fund is being “sunsetted.” According to him, the Contingency Fund was originally designed to fund units when there were fluctuations in things like enrollment to the university.
The Senate will reconvene for their second bill readings at 6 p.m. next Tuesday in the Memorial Union Horizon Room.
If the bills pass, they will be sent on to the ASOSU president for confirmation.
A full flow chart of the student fee process can be found on the SFC web page.
The bills can be found in full attached to the meeting agenda.
