Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll spoke about the University budget and where students’ tuition and general fees are used on campus at the Undergraduate Student Government meeting Monday night.
Stoll said that tuition collected by the University goes into its general budget, called the Education and General Budget (ENG), and is used for all operations on campus grounds.
These general operations include academic departments and general university departments such as Payroll and Human Resources.
There is an implemented general fee that is separate from the ENG budget and is labeled as a non-academic student support service fee. Stoll said that this fee funds student union, intercollegiate athletics, the recreation center and student organizations.
Additional fees, such as rooming and board plan fees, are used for the residence halls and meal plans for most students who live on campus.
Stoll said that the University looks for options to generate revenue besides state support, even though “(Ohio) is expecting for state support to go up again” in the next few years.
“Our spending actually hasn’t gone up, it’s actually been low since (the few past years),” she said.
The University looks for a variety of different areas beside state support, which include but are not limited to: conferences and events, stadium and Stroh rentals, music and sport summer camps and different forms of philanthropy.
Stoll reported that Ohio is on a biannual budget.
“This is the first year of Ohio’s biannual budget,” she said. “One of the only states in the country that does the budget two years at a time instead of just one.”
Stoll said that there was not tuition increase in 2015, and there will remain a tuition freeze in 2016, carrying on to 2017.
“Both the house and senate proposed zero percent tuition increase for 2016 and 2017,” she said. “Both sides actually came forward for more state support.”
When asked about where athletic fees hide in the student’s tuition, Stoll said that as a student, you have to compare the University to the size of the conference we exist in.
“If you were to compare BGSU to all of the other schools in our conference … BGSU, given our size, we give the lesser amounts to our athletics department … while our athletics department generates more revenue than one or two other schools in our conference,” she said. “It says a lot about our fan support.”
Stoll concluded her presentation by answering, “How much does BGSU make from parking fees?”
“We average one ticket per student,” she said. “That averages out to around $500,000 a year.”
Stoll said that the University uses this money to take care of the parking lots by repaving or restriping them.
USG Vice President Danielle Parker said that parking passes will become available to desk managers who work the 4 a.m.-8 a.m. shift in residence halls.
“This summer we had heard from Nadia Oehler that it was a concern in the residence halls, and we said, ‘Wow, that’s a big safety concern,’” she said.
Since parking becomes enforced by 7 a.m., workers will be able to take the pass when they clock in, place it on their car and then return it when they clock out.
The University first annual Creed Day will kick off tomorrow from 12 p.m.-1 p.m. in the Falcon’s Nest.
University Spirit Crews and Freddy and Frieda will be in attendance, along with Mayor Edwards, declaring March 22 officially as Creed Day at Bowling Green.
The University Creed was created by members of USG who believe that the Creed will help future, current and past students stay connected to what they believe “being a Falcon” truly is.
“(The creed) connects the BG community to BGSU students to BGSU alumni,” said Parker. “It’s everything we hope you would stand for as a Falcon.”
President Victor Senn encouraged the senate to attend and use the phrase #IamaFalcon to spread awareness on social media.
“(This day) is like voting… extremely important,” he said.
The USG tables will be giving out free t-shirts, and the Office of Residence Life will be holding giveaways, games and prizes during Creed day.
