The Student Services Fee Committee recently released its final written recommendations for the 2023-2024 school year. Some campus organizations have criticized this year’s allocations and some say the committee was not clear enough with the reasoning behind its decisions.

“I think we’ve already seen this year in itself how a decrease in the system is going to affect us,” said Cheng Lee, President of the Asian Pacific American Association. “We asked for any increases and for the budget we did so that we can accommodate for the increases in the prices of catering, for example. It seems like every year their prices are going up.”

Featuring students from APAA's Fall 2022 "Festivals of Asia" Culture Show. Credits: APAA

The APAA requested $16,000, however, it was allocated $14,000 for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. For the current school year, it was allocated $15,500, meaning a loss of $1,500. Similarly, other student groups felt that they lost out on funds.

All Multicultural Center student groups that participated in the SSF proposal process sent a combined appeals letter to Vice Chancellor of Student Life Lisa Erwin, who is in charge of the appeals process.

In a combined appeals letter, the Multicultural Center organizations alleged receiving $22,000 less than what they requested. With these budget cuts, student groups are unsure how to proceed for next year. Due to catering costs and inflation, many groups requested an increase to fit their budget and continue doing the same amount of events they do each year.

Prior to COVID-19, Queer and Allied Student Union Executive Board traveled to an LGBTQ+ conference each year as an educational experience to better support its team and community. QASU planned on continuing this in the fall, however, due to the cuts will be unable to do so or will only be sending one member for the trip. In addition, many groups will need to decrease their amount of events, the amount of catering and how many people can attend to better fit their budget overall. Fundraising will also be a high priority for the next academic year.

In addition to activity-based organizations, some department organizations saw significant funding cuts.

The Theatre Department uses SSF funding in conjunction with ticket revenue to finance its productions. In 2022-2023, it received $2.56 from every SSF payment, totaling $40,000 for the year. In 2023-2024, it was allotted $1.65 per payment, or $25,000. Head of the Theatre Department Mark Harvey plans to heavily market next year’s performances to make up for the $15,000 difference.

“We’re committed to not charging students with admission so the marketing team has got to reach out even more to the greater community,” said Harvey. “But I’m pretty confident we’ll be fine.”

UMD's production of "Singin' in the Rain" featuring Trevor Hendrix, Emily Bolles and Jake Lieder (from left to right). Credits: UMD Theatre Department

UMD’s Green Fund, which funds the Office of Sustainability, was allocated $2.98, or $45,000, for 2023-2024, the same amount of SSF funding it received in the 2022-2023 school year. However, it was also awarded a $30,000 MNtersections Student Engagement Fund grant in 2022-2023 as a part of MPact 2025’s initiatives, funding it may not receive next year.

The Green Fund recently acquired UMD’s Land Lab. This acquisition means the Green Fund is now additionally responsible for paying the associated fees for running the lab (in the 2022-2023 school year, the Land Lab was allocated $12,000 from the SSFC). The Land Lab did not request any allocation this year due to it being absorbed into the Office of Sustainability. In response to the new budget situation, the Green Fund cut student staff from four positions to three.

Photo featuring students at UMD's Land Lab. Photo Credits: Aaron Reiser

“About three years ago, the committee did write a paragraph of feedback for each group and I think they could be asked to do that again,” said Vice Chancellor Lisa Erwin at a UMDSGA meeting. “They felt like it would be best to give the suggestions and feedback to all groups involved. The committee gets to do that but we could certainly ask the committee to do that again.”

There is no rule in the university’s guidelines that requires the SSFC to provide individual feedback to each organization. However, the previous Associate Vice Chancellor Corbin Smyth voluntarily provided individualized feedback, but the last time this process was implemented was for the 2020-2021 recommendations.

“The committee ended the practice several years ago—that was not a recent decision, nor the decision of the 2023 SSF Committee,” said Toni Christensen, who oversaw the committee this year. “According to Dr. Smyth, this change occurred so that the SSF Committee could provide consistent feedback and recommendations to all organizations that aligns with the overarching purposes of the Student Services Fee and the committee’s approach to allocations.”

SSF-requesting groups disagreed with the lack of feedback, citing lack of reasoning for allocations and asking for clearer, individualized feedback in the future.

“Without a more detailed or directed set of recommendations per organization, it is currently unclear how the SSF committee came to their final conclusions,” wrote the student organizations in their appeals letter.

UMDSGA passed a resolution on April 10 that suggested reinstating individual feedback for organizations and increasing deliberation transparency, as well as a few other suggestions. The resolution was sent to both the Office of Student Life and the Chancellor’s Office for consideration and review. Each suggestion will be taken into consideration and possibly implemented for next year.

Students push for greater transparency in Student Service Fees process