Student segregated fees will be relied on less in the upcoming academic year if Student Association committee’s recommendations are passed, saving students $1.40 a year.

The Student Association’s Senate Finance Committee recommended allocating funds to different departments and student organizations on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The SA Senate must approve all of the Finance Committee’s recommendations at its next meeting on Dec. 4 before SA President Russ Rueden can sign off on it.

After that, Chancellor Carlos Santiago and the UW Board of Regents would have to approve the recommendations before they can be finalized.

Segregated fees are a portion of every student’s tuition that goes to fund school programs and organizations.

The UPass program was approved for the largest increase, requesting a $3 per student increase for next year. This comes on the heels of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s plan to reduce county funding for the UPass program.

Only the Union Activities Board, which runs the 8th Note Coffeehouse, asked for less money from segregated fees than it did last year. The proposal for funding decrease was in part because the board has been working to control its budget in the last year, and only asked for an increase the year before for new furniture.

Be On the Safe Side, which has been operating in debt, was approved for a $2 per student increase, bringing its total intake from segregated fees to $10 a student. Courtney Gotz, director of BOSS, expressed interest to eventually bring back BOSS’ extended hours.

Many organizations pointed to the increase in enrollment at UWM and the uniqueness of their specific organizations as to why they wanted more money.

Pam Boulton, director of the Children’s Center, acknowledged her program’s interaction with the nursing, art and architecture schools in her request for an increase, which they received.

“Overall, we funded the services that were most crucial to UWM,” said SA Vice President Robby Schuettpelz.

Some programs did not receive as much funding as they asked for. The Senate Finance Committee found aspects of programs like LINKS Peer Outreach and Mentoring Center and the Center for Volunteerism and Leadership were duplicated in the funding of other groups.

A lot of the organizations received an increase in next year’s allotments, even though it wasn’t quite as large as they originally hoped for. One such organization was the Campus Activities Board, which received a $1 per student increase on the condition that it would plan one large-scale event each year.

Since some programs will receive less segregated fee funding next year, the Senate Finance Committee finished 70 cents per student under budget.

The next step is approval at the Dec. 4 SA Senate meeting in the Union, Room W191. Meetings are open to the public.

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