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Current SSA fee budget tops $1.6 million

Every year, Shoreline students not only pay tuition but also support a myriad of student programs through fees. In June, the Student Government approved a Student Services and Activities (SSA) fee budget of $1,655,133 for the current year (please see chart at right).

The biggest item on the list is the PUB renovation fee, budgeted at $467,010 (related story below). This fee was voted on by the student body and consists of $3 per credit up to 10 credits maximum.

Next in line is the Student Activity Operations, budgeted at $429,059. The largest expenditures under this heading are the Parent-Child Center ($80,000), Executive Board ($65,580), Student Programs office ($63,931) and Transfer Student Tutoring ($63,034).

Athletic programs – both intermural and intercollegiate – are budgeted at $218,000 this year, with the bulk of the money going toward intercollegiate sports. Shoreline’s intercollegiate sports include Men’s baseball, Women’s softball and volleyball, and Men’s and Women’s soccer, basketball, and tennis.

Performing Arts allocations totaled $116,550 and include the College’s plays, musicals and opera and related expenses; choral and instrumental groups and the Campus Gallery.

Student Publications allocations totaled $52,000; of this, $40,000 was budgeted for The Ebbtide and $12,000 for Spindrift, the College’s annual literary publication. The Ebbtide receives about 80 percent of its budget from the student fees, said faculty advisor Karen Rathe, with the remainder coming from advertising sales. The bulk of these budgets support salaries and printing costs.

A total of $60,343 was allocated to 35 campus clubs. These allocations ranged between $1,000 and $2,133.

In all, about $886,000 was allocated to campus programs and clubs. Other income sources include International Student Fee Income, estimated to be $46,000, and a budgeted cash carryover of $225,000 from the 2002-03 school year.

How does the fee-assessment process work?

“SS&A Fees are added to the cost of students’ tuition, along with all other fees (PUB Renovation Fee, Lab Fees, Technology Fee, etc.) through action by the Board of Trustees,” said Scott Saunders, Interim Director of Student Programs.

“The state Legislature has established laws enabling colleges and universities to collect these fees, and the Legislature sets a limit on the maximum SS&A Fee amount each year,” Saunders said. Student Government is responsible for recommending to the Board of Trustees the overall SS&A Fee Budget, and the level of SS&A fees to be charged to students, as part of the annual budget process.

Shoreline’s Board of Trustees approves the SS&A Fee Budget at their June meeting each year.

“We haven’t raised SS&A Fees for a couple years, so Shoreline’s average SS&A Fee of $5.84/credit is well below the maximum level being charged by many of our peer institutions,” Saunders added.

Upon registration, students receive a copy of the tuition and fees they are being charged.