Activity and Service Fee:
Student Government
Student Government will receive a 23 cent increase, which is the amount it requested.
SG will apply the increase to the addition of casualty insurance, which the university requires for every department.
“For whatever reason, we hadn’t had [casualty insurance], so we had to make up for it with other funds in previous years, but this year we finally locked it down and got it in our budget,” said Student Body President Matt Brockelman.
SG will use remaining funds to accommodate for the state upping the minimum wage.
Health Fee:
Health Promotions
Health Promotions will receive a 11 cent increase for the upcoming school year. The department, which has remained at 92 cents per credit hour since the 2004-2005 school year, requested this same amount.
The additional funds will be used to hire a Healthy Osprey coordinator.
“One hundred percent of this person’s time will be dedicated to further transforming the entire campus community into a more health-conscience campus,” said Everett Malcolm, UNF Associate Vice President of Student Affairs.
The Healthy Osprey Coordinator will have two main focuses: the physical and nutritional health of students.
“We hope to tie physical health and nutritional awareness into one component with the opening of the student wellness complex by having all campus health promotion under one roof,” Malcolm said.
Counseling Center
The health fee for the UNF Counseling Center will increase by 19 cents in the 2012-2013 school year. The 19 cents is a portion of the additional $2.06-per-credit-hour fee students will be paying next year. The fee was at $1.70 during the 2000-2001 school year. It has fluctuated slightly throughout the years following and remained at $2.61 for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.
Initially, the center requested a 26 cent increase, in order to hire one additional counselor/psychologist, additional hours for a psychiatric nurse practitioner and additional overhead and miscellaneous fees.
“We have this need because of the length of the waiting lists for these services,” said Terry DiNuzzo, the center’s director. “Students’ inability to receive these services can really affect their ability to stay in school.”
The committee chose to allot the center 19 cents because it is the exact amount needed to hire one more counselor, which will get students off of those waitlists, Brockelman said.
An additional counselor will bring the center into compliance with the staffing requirements of the accreditation, DiNuzzo said.
Student Health Services
The health fee for the university’s Student Health Services is set to decrease by 5 cents in the upcoming school year, though the department requested no increase or decrease. The department’s fees have been at $2.65 per credit hour since the 2008-2009 school year.
“We are not going to change a thing in the department,” said Doreen Perez, the administrative director of student health. “In fact, we still want to increase medical provider hours, which we can do because the state system has decreased some of the benefits that we pay our employees.”
Because the department does not have to put as much away for its employees’ benefits, it will be able to accommodate for the 5 cent decrease in funding.
“Every year for the past few years, Student Health Services has finished with close to $100,000 in unspent money,” Brockelman said. “And if an organization or entity isn’t going to spend the money it’s getting, especially in this situation, with it being student fee money, we thought it was time to scale it back a little bit. And honestly, students won’t feel any difference in terms of the services.”
Athletic Fee:
Athletics
The athletics department is looking at an increase of $1.35 in its fees, though it requested an increase of $1.49. The department was allotted $9.00 per credit hour during the 2000-2001 school year. And its fees have increased steadily into 2011-2012 — at $14.98 per credit hour.
Lee Moon, UNF’s Director of Athletics, expressed uncertainty regarding how the excess funds will be disbursed among the sports, due to the fact that President John Delaney and the Board of Trustees have not yet passed the proposals.
“We requested more than they gave us,” Moon said, “so I have to prioritize the money and put it in the sports that need it. But that’s not going to happen until we start doing the budget process, which will be in March.”
Golf and volleyball will be high up on the agenda, Moon said.
“If you look at the fee history, this is the biggest increase they’ve been given since going Division !, and I think it will help them,” Brockelman said.
Transportation Access Fee:
Transportation Access Fee Auxiliary
The university’s transportation department will receive an additional 23 cents in the upcoming school year.
The Transportation Access Fee, which funds UNF’s shuttle service, has remained at $3.85 per credit hour since its implementation in 2007.
If accepted, the 23 cents will go toward an additional stop located in the St. John’s Town Center. The university will still need to work out an agreement with the Town Center, Brockelman said. If an agreement cannot be reached with the Town Center, the 23 cent increase will not be implemented.
Currently, the shuttle will complete the Town Center route seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. However, the department has also considered requiring the shuttle to only make the trip six days a week, if the university finds that the service is not used often enough on the seventh day to make it a necessity.
“I think [the route] would give students the ability to get to Town Center without using cars, as well as giving students who are living on campus without a vehicle the opportunity to do so,” said Vince Smyth, the Director of UNF’s Auxiliary Services. “I think, overall, it will provide students with more flexibility.”
Although, the fee proposals are pending approval from President Delaney and the Board of Trustees, Brockelman is optimistic about their acceptance of the recommendations.
“I’ve already discussed these fee recommendations with President Delaney, and he’s on board with all of them. And the Board of Trustees are good with trusting the decisions we reach, so I don’t think it will be problem,” Brockelman said.
Email Maggi at asst.news@unfspinnaker.com
