SGA discusses tuition changes and SAC replacement, approves funding request

The Student Government Association (SGA) March 28 meeting included a discussion on tuition and budget changes from a guest speaker, four funding requests from student organizations and the introduction of a new organization to temporarily replace Student Activities Council (SAC).

Tuition and budget changes

The meeting began with a discussion of tuition and budget changes proposed for the fall, led by vice president of finance and administration Brad Sheriff. Sheriff said the University has a significant difference in resident and non-resident student rates, and with tuition changes, they are hoping to shrink the difference starting next year.

Sheriff said undergraduate residents will receive a $10 increase per credit hour, and undergraduate non-residents will receive a $109 decrease per credit hour. Fully online undergraduate students will see their tuition and general fees decrease by $17 dollars per credit hour.

If the proposed changes pass, the difference between undergraduate resident and non-resident students will shrink to $100 per credit hour, and the difference between graduate resident and non-resident students will shrink to $150 per credit hour.

For graduate students, Sheriff said resident students will receive a $19.25 increase per credit hour, and nonresident students will see a $107.50 decrease per credit hour. Online graduate students will see no change. Regional campuses will receive a $3 increase per credit hour.

Sheriff said these changes will help cover the University’s institutional scholarship costs. Sheriff said “nonresident tuition has continued to “grow faster and faster,” which is one of the reasons that the scholarship budget “got a little out of control.” Sheriff said there is a scholarship opportunity for nonresident students to pay in-state tuition rate, but 87% of SEMO students get the scholarship anyway.

Seventy percent of SEMO students receive some form of university financial aid, which is commonly advertised by the university. Sheriff said the scholarship program meant to grant more students scholarships, otherwise known as the Copper Dome Scholarship program, could have accelerated the difference between resident and non-resident rates. Sheriff said the forgone revenue from tuition has grown “substantially” over the last 6 years.

“Whether you are [in a class taught] in-person, online, blended — it won’t matter. Same rate. Same tuition. Same general fees. No difference,” Sheriff said. “We hope that our students find that significantly less confusing and more transparent.”

Sheriff said if their financial modeling holds, the gross tuition and fees number will go down dramatically, but the University's net tuition revenue will stay roughly the same next year, before slowly climbing in the years to follow.

The changes are not yet approved, but will be discussed further and voted upon at the May Board of Governors meeting.

Funding requests

The first two funding requests of the night were from DECA, a competitive events organization that prepares emerging business leaders and entrepreneurs. In their first request, the organization asked for $1,755 to fund 13 students going to the 2022 International Career Development Conference in Baltimore, Md. The second funding request asked for $1,700 to fund the 20 students who attended the 2022 State DECA Competition.

DECA president and business and computing senator Heather Hoffman spoke on the requests and the value of funding both conferences.

“Both of these conferences provide different values to students,” Hoffman said.

SGA parliamentarian Luke Collins said the two resolutions would be funding more than the $2,000 allowed for a single organization in a school year, based on account guidelines, but he said there was room for exceptions, if senators wanted to fund a request for over $2,000.

Science, technology, engineering & mathematics (STEM) senator Anna Carpenter said funding both resolutions would give an additional $1,500 over the amounts SGA has given to other organizations throughout the year.

The first DECA request for $1,755 was approved, and the second DECA request for $1,700 was not approved.

The SEMO Sundancers, the university’s dance team, requested $5,000 to help cover the cost of registration for 14 students to attend the 2022 Dance Team Union Nationals in Orlando, Fla.

The request was to be taken out of SGA’s discretionary account, which is meant to fund special campus projects and has no funding guidelines unlike other accounts. SGA Special Projects chair Sidney Siebert said SGA has funded more than the $2,000 amount for the Sundancers in the past.

One reason for this increased funding is the Sundancer’s fundraising efforts. Sundancer head coach said they have currently raised $15,000 from Sundance apparel fundraisers and a children’s dance clinic.

The Sundancers’ funding request was amended to $3,000 and passed unanimously.

The final funding request was from the Student Research Conference Committee for $770 to help fund T-shirts for the annual Student Research Conference.

SGA Secretary Kate Appleman said the conference distributes T-shirts to all conference workers and presenters, and it is a great opportunity for the SGA logo to be displayed on a shirt and show support. The request for $770 was passed, with all senators voting to approve it and one senator abstaining.

SAC suspension and temporary replacement

The last major item discussed on the agenda was the replacement of Student Activities Council (SAC) with a new organization, the Student Engagement Advisory Committee (SEA).

Director of Campus Life and SGA advisor Michele Irby said SAC has had trouble recruiting members, and Campus Life has been short on advisors for SAC, which may have contributed to some of the issues the organization has faced in planning their events, such as failing to fill out contracts in time.

Irby said with the way SAC is set up now, advisors have not been able to sign contracts or help with getting things booked for events, since they don’t have the jurisdiction.

SGA President Layla Bouzihay said the new organization, SEA, would be guided by Campus Life to help with these processes and market the events students want to host on campus.

“In this scenario, students can have their opinion, say they want an event, and Campus Life will help,” Bouzihay said.

The plan would be for SEA to replace SAC for three years, allowing time for Campus Life to teach students how to plan events before reopening SAC.

The new organization would include two members appointed by SGA, the director of Campus Life and Event Services, student workers within Campus Life’s office and general members from the student body. Current SAC members will be able to continue their involvement with SEA if they wish.

“I’m looking for a way to expedite things more quickly [with SEA]. … Trying to revive SAC is really the end goal,” Irby said.

Senators decided to wait for members from SAC to speak before voting on approval of SEA. Further discussion was tabled for next week’s meeting.

The last item on the agenda was the approval of a new student organization, Collegiate-National Association for Music Education (NAfME Collegiate). The organization is a professional membership for future music educators. It was unanimously approved.

View the full March 28 SGA meeting on the Arrow’s Facebook.