Student Organization Funding

What is Financial Affairs Committee?

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Financial Affairs Committee, along with the other joint boards, provides operational oversight for Associated Students facilities. Financial Affairs Committee is unique in that it does not oversee a facility, but works to manage student fees and help create the yearly budget for the facilities and programs of the Associated Students at San Diego State University. The facilities and programs of Associated Students include:

The Committee meets every Monday at 11 a.m. in the Legacy Suite, Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union. During the summer, Financial Affairs Committee does not meet. Any financial requests are heard by the A.S. Board of Directors, which typically meets every two weeks.

For more information about Financial Affairs Committee, please contact the current Vice President of Financial Affairs at as.vp.fin@sdsu.edu or 619-594-6555. The current V.P. of Financial Affairs can be found at A.S. Leadership

Addressing Financial Affairs Committee

When addressing Financial Affairs Committee, please be prepared to answer questions regarding your funding request or proposal. It is highly encouraged that your organization’s VP Finance and President attend the meeting. If these members are not able to attend, please send individuals who will represent your group well and be able to provide educated answers to Financial Affairs Committee queries.

If you are requesting money from the Committee, please provide the Committee with a line item budget so that we may see where the requested money will be used (if applicable). Please bring any materials that will help us make a decision in your favor. If you have questions on preparing for a Financial Affairs Committee presentation, please contact the VP of Financial Affairs at 619-594-6555.

COVID-19 Information on Campus Tuition and Mandatory Campus Fees

A.S. and the Financial Affairs Committee has worked with the university to clarify information on tuition, mandatory campus fees and other direct services campus fees. Below is information on this including A.S. fees and services.

Based on current guidance from the California State University (CSU) system, tuition and mandatory campus fees will not be refunded. However, certain payments for direct services will be refunded or waived.

Tuition

Tuition fees are not assessed at a campus-level, but at the CSU level. In line with the CSU, all campuses plan to continue for the foreseeable future to provide academic credit for courses taken and delivered by alternative means (i.e. virtual instruction). It is important to understand that tuition largely funds faculty and staff costs and all support of academics. It also funds campus infrastructure and fixed costs for facilities debt and maintenance. As the university is continuing academic and other supports, refunds of tuition fees are not warranted.

Mandatory Campus Fees 

Mandatory fees differ from campus to campus within the CSU system. Mandatory fees are assessed on all students largely based on the approval process involving earlier groups of students, and the funding supports programs, services and facilities unique to each campus. As with tuition, the expenses related to these initiatives, such as full-time staff and part-time staff and student employee expenses, bond payments on buildings, and other costs to operate programs, are largely still occurring this semester. Many programs and services have been converted to virtual environments and are continuing.

These mandatory campus fees include:

Student Success Fee (SSF)

90% of SSF funds are used to increase tenure-track faculty and course sections. These faculty salaries and benefits expenses continue to be paid for the portion of Spring 2020 that entails virtual instruction. Since the SSF was implemented in Fall 2014, SDSU has added 80 tenure-track faculty and 463 additional course sections. For more information, visit the Student Success Fee website.

10% of the SSF is allocated annually to students for academic related programs. Many of these programs occurred prior to the current events and travel being cancelled. Unused fees from this year will be transferred into next year which will increase program funds available for next year.

Any student out-of-pocket expenses for Spring 2020 approved events will be reimbursed whether or not the event occurred. For more information, visit the Student Success Fee - Academic Related Programs webpage.

Instructionally Related Activities Fee (IRA)

The IRA fee funds numerous activities including intercollegiate athletics, intramural sports, student colloquiums, lecture series, seminars, student projects, student conferences, student competitions, student forums, student exhibitions, student productions, and student performances and student participation at professional conferences.

The majority of these expenses were incurred this year and continue through the end of the year. Revenues from conference titles and ad revenue were much lower and this was partially offset by lower travel expenses related to conference playoffs.

Much of the academic IRA funds allocated by each college have already been spent and those unused funds will be rolled into the overall IRA budget to be allocated next year. Any student out of pocket expenses for approved projects will be reimbursed.

For more information, visit the IRA website.

Health Services Fee 

The Health Services fee provides funding to support the operations for four campus departments: Student Health Services, Counseling & Psychological Services, Student Ability Success Center and Well-being & Health Promotion.

Services are being maintained virtually in Counseling & Psychological Services, Student Ability Success Center and Well-being & Health Promotion. While Student Health Servicesis providing on-site and virtual services.

Health Facility Fee

The Health Facility Fee funds the bond payments for the Calpulli Center as well as required maintenance for the building.

Library Fees

Library Student Use fees are used to enhance the library resources, fund staff, replace equipment and provide campus access to electronic journals, books, digital and audio files. The library’s online services, collections and help desks remain available during this time. For more information, visit the Library website.

Associated Students Fees 

Student body center and activities fees along with self generated revenues from A.S. programs fund the total A.S. expenses. The largest expenses covered by A.S. fees are the bond payments on the Student Union, Aquaplex, Aztec Recreation Center and Viejas Arena, totaling about $9 million per year. These are 30-year bonds much like a home mortgage loan and the principal payments funded the original constructions of these facilities. After the bond payments, remaining A.S. fees and self generated revenues are used to cover the rest of the costs to operate A.S. facilities, programs and services. These expenses include facility maintenance costs and full-time staff and part-time student staff who operate the facilities, programs and services.

A.S. revenues to cover expenses are significantly lower as some refunds were issued for direct services such as the Aztec Recreation Center and Children’s Center. Other revenues were also impacted from various cancellations and postponements of Viejas Arena and Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre concerts and events.

Student organizations that were allocated funds from A.S. will be able to roll many of these funds over to next year. Student orgs will be communicated to directly with that information.

Other Direct Services Campus Fees

Aztec Recreation Center Membership

Aztec Rec Center Membership fees were refunded for March and membership fees were not collected until the facility reopened ARC Outdoors in August. The Aztec Recreation Center is a program of A.S.

Children’s Center Fees

Children’s Center fees were prorated for March 2020 and were not billed until the facility reopened in August 2020. The Children’s Center is open and is a program of A.S.

Residence Halls

Students are being reimbursed for the prorated amount of payments since closure. Visit the SDSU Housing website for more information.

Meal Plans 

Students are being reimbursed for the amount of meal plans not used based on the date an individual student left campus.

Parking Passes 

Students may apply to receive partial reimbursement  for semester parking passes. Visit the parking permits website for more information.

 

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For more information and coverage of this topic, view The Daily Aztec’s recent article on the more than $24 million to be reimbursed to SDSU students.