Present: Eileen Daniel, Peter Dowe, Melissa Feola, Scott Haines (representing Lorraine Acker), Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall – Co-chair, Michael Harrison, Susan Lowey, Teresa Major, Skye Paine – Co-chair, Rongkun Shen and Melissa Wight
Regrets: Lorraine Acker, Rachael Killion and Lisa Robusto-Mack
Welcome and Announcements
- Scott Haines was welcomed to the meeting. He will be attending in Dr. Acker’s place for the next couple meetings.
- Members went around and introduced themselves.
- Members were thanked for their flexibility with the adjusted meeting time.
- The BSG Treasurer has stepped down from her role. BSG will be holding a special election to fill the position. We will try to add that student once an individual is elected, but if any member has an undergraduate student they think would like to serve, please let Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall know.
- The Director of Budgeting position is still vacant. The future of the Budgeting department is still to be determined.
September 8, 2023, Meeting Summary
Members reviewed the meeting summary from the September 8, 2023, meeting. Any comments, edits or suggestions should be sent to Ms. Wight by Friday, November 10, 2023.
Updates to the Committee
SUNY Pooled Offset Discussions
Jackie Clark is now serving on the committee, and they are still working on developing ideas. The ideas will then be reviewed by SUNY. There are no other updates at this time.
Comprehensive Fee Discussions
- SUNY requested all of the accounting, budget and bursar groups get together to create a working group to review the idea of a comprehensive fee and bring their concerns forward. Teresa Major and Colleen Crouse have volunteered to be on the working group.
- Ms. Major reported that the team has met and there are various concerns. One concern is that the original proposal was that campuses would have control of the yearly reallocation of the funds between the fee budgets. The new proposal is that campuses will have to get SUNY approval to adjust the allocation of funds between the fee budgets. Also, there is a concern regarding the Federal Education Tax Reporting (1098-T form). With a comprehensive fee, there are some fees that would be consolidated into the fee that are not eligible to be claimed on the federal education tax credit. This could cause issues with programming. Also, initially it appeared campuses would have a bigger voice in the approval of this and now it looks like there are individuals in SUNY that are eager for this approval. Therefore, this fee may be approved whether campuses want it or not.
- Members discussed the concern that departments would not have an initiative to stay within their budget because they can ask for more money next year. The goal would be to develop a process to set parameters at the campus level to determine the funding for each area versus making budgets whole.
Spring 2024 Course Fee Requests
- SUNY is reviewing our Spring 2024 requests.
- Ms. Killion has received two questions so far in this review process. One was questioning high balances in IFR accounts, which we will be addressing. The other one was regarding an account that has multiple course fees linked to it and how the revenue and expenses are differentiated between the fees. We do have several mechanisms in place and these will be shared with SUNY.
Biennial Review to JPBC
- The report has been moved to November 30, 2023. The report was originally scheduled for November 9, but Jackie and Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall will be attending the SUBOA conference on that date.
SUNY Initiative Funds - Graduate Student Health Fee
- SUNY has provided the campus with special funding this year. This is supposed to be ongoing funds, but the State budget is made on an annual basis. It has been determined that we will have the funding for the next three years.
- Appreciation was extended to Ms. Major and Mr. Harrison for their continued work on this initiative.
- Some of the funding will be used for graduate student fees. The funding will be awarded to any GA/TA or graduate student worker and it will cover the health fee in full for the fall and spring semesters.
- The campus has committed to cover any funding shortfall.
- This initiative was to begin this semester, but due to the delay in funding, the starting timeframe has been pushed to Spring 2024.
- If there are GSEU funds this year, this would be an additional benefit for the graduate students. They would receive this benefit toward their technology fee.
- Financial Aid will need to be involved to adjust financial aid packages to reduce them by the amount of the awards.
- Students with accounts that are paid in full, would have to be manually issued a refund by the Office of Student Accounts and Accounting.
Fall Student Fee Form
- In reviewing the policy, it was determined that the forum does not need to occur in the fall.
- Moving the meeting to the spring would allow there to be new information to provide. Right now, the information is unchanged from the spring presentation. This would also allow for consolidated presentations.
- It was decided the forum would be conducted in the spring semester and kept in a Teams Live format. This allows students to attend the live event or watch the recording that will be on the website. We will also keep the forum on a Friday morning at 9:00am.
- The forum will be scheduled for Friday, March 8 at 9:00am.
- Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall, Dr. Paine and Ms. Wight will meet to review past materials and develop the call letter. It may be determined to consolidate both call letters into one. It will be brought back to the committee for review.
FY24/25 Broad-Based Fee Call Letter Development
- In following our past schedule, the Student Fee Forum would be on Friday, March 15. This falls during the spring break week. Therefore, it was determined we would schedule the forum for the Friday before, like we did last year. Pending confirmation with BSG, the forum will be scheduled for Friday, March 8.
- JPBC presentations are scheduled for Thursday, March 14.
- The call letter will be updated to reflect current information.
- There isn’t new SUNY direction, so we will continue as is. We will change routes if we receive new directions.
Biennial Report to JPBC
- Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall is reviewing the past reports to develop the draft. The past report format seems to take the questions from our Charge and answer the questions based on what the committee has completed over the past two years.
- Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall will prepare the draft of the report and send it to members for review. Since there is not another meeting prior to the report presentation, feedback on the report will be requested via email.
Upcoming Projects for this Committee:
CBFRC Calendar
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall is working on developing the calendar based on the agendas that are set. This is so the next person that becomes Co-Chair has an outline of what the committee needs to do. If items are missing or need to be added, please let Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall know.
Course Fee Approval Rubric
This item is still on the list to be completed.
Course Fee IFR Balance Review Using the Revenue and Expense Template
This item is still on the list to be completed.
December Meeting - Review Course Fee Call
Members will be reviewing the call because it will be sent out in January. Ms. Killion will be preparing the call and will be submitting it to the committee for input.
Other Items from the Committee
None at this time.