CBFRC Summary: November 16, 2018

Present: Eileen Daniel, Peter Dowe, Dawn Footer, Kathy Groves, Crystal Hallenbeck, Teresa Major, Karen Riotto, Dillon Thompson, Jim Zollweg, and Melissa Wight

Regrets: Libby Caruso, Craig Ross, and Rongkun Shen

Announcements/Membership

The following announcements were made:

• Ms. Riotto stated we are still in need of an Undergraduate Student Representative for the
  committee. Ms. Footer stated that Emma Chilson-Cline is interested in becoming the
  Undergraduate Student Representative. Ms. Riotto requested Ms. Chilson-Cline’s contact
  information and Ms. Footer agreed to provide it.

2017/18 Open Items

Committee members discussed the following open items:

• In regards to the request for BSG to re-evaluate their fee criteria for fall 2019, Ms. Riotto
  stated that a meeting to discuss this request has been scheduled for November 27, 2018. The following individuals will be in attendance:
  
  • Karen Riotto
  • Dawn Footer
  • Josh Mathews
  • Libby Caruso
  • Tyler Brown
• The committee will follow-up on the “Double Technology Fee” at a future meeting as Dr.
  Daniel stated that there is a Host Meeting today where she will be obtaining more
  information.

Items from the Committee

In regards to the fees assessed to Education Administration and 3:1:3 Students. Dr. Daniel stated that she was contacted by Education Administration regarding the program and how the students only take one class on campus and all others either down in the Southern Tier or at Brockport Downtown. The concern is other colleges may be waiving fees to gain a competitive edge and we are losing ours by assessing these students fees. Also, there is a concern regarding the 3:1:3 students being charged for services they are not utilizing and these fees are causing us to be less competitive then CLEP, GCC and International Baccalaureate as these are other ways for students to receive college credit. Committee members discussed their concerns regarding assessing fees and not assessing fees to these
two groups of students. It was determined that the committee needed to remain with the established timetable for the fee review and these two groups will be looked at next year during the comprehensive review. In addition, it was determined that scholarships need to be reviewed and increased to help increase our competitiveness.

Fall 2018 Items

• Members discussed the 2019 Fee-Based Budget Presentation Call Letter and the following items were discussed: 
  • Members decided to add the word “student” to the consultative process under section 4 in the last bullet.
  • Members discussed eliminating the parking fee from the schedule of presentations. Ms. Riotto stated she would research the process that the parking fee is reviewed outside of this committee and report back. The committee will make a final decision on whether or not to keep the parking fee on the presentation at our next meeting.
  • Members discussed the Student Fee Forum. This is tentatively scheduled for February 22, 2019. Ms. Riotto will confirm with BSG on this date. It was discussed if the forum could be moved up from 4:00pm but there are classes that it could conflict with as well as council meetings that start at 3:00pm. It was decided to keep the forum to start at 4:00pm. In addition, it was discussed that the venue may need to be changed due to the increase of student attendance with the newly established club budget incentive. Ms. Footer was going to check to see if Union 220 might be better.
• In regards to the Broad Based Fee Waiver Policy, Ms. Riotto stated that the next step is to enter it into the MachForm for it to move through the policy review process.
• In regards to the Credit-By-Exam Fee, Ms. Riotto stated there is a meeting scheduled on November 27, 2018 on the nursing process for Credit-By-Exam and to better understand the discrepancy discovered between the amount of fees being collected and the number of Credit-By-Exam awards that are being processed. The individuals attending this meeting are:
  
  • Peter Dowe
  • Teresa Major
  • Kathy Peterson
  • Karen Riotto
• Ms. Footer mentioned that she spoke to a nursing student who indicated that there were difficulties with some of the transfer credits not being awarded. This may have something to do with the discrepancy as the students have completed the work, the credits are not being transferred so they maybe awarding the credit via Credit-By-Exam. In addition, Ms. Riotto stated that this review will be ongoing throughout this academic year as we need to obtain more information regarding this fee and the committee will need to submit a proposal at the end of the academic year to take effect for the next academic year.
• Members continued the discussion regarding options on how to make the commencement fee voluntary and reviewed the draft proposal created by Ms. Riotto. The following items were discussed regarding the proposal, obtaining funds to cover the cost of the ceremony and options for the voluntary fee:
  
  • Mr. Dowe suggested charging students who indicate that they are going to attend the
    ceremony. Ms. Major indicated that would cause a problem with people who say they are going to attend and then do not and want a refund. Ms. Groves indicated that students could say they are not attending and then show up so they do not have to pay the fee. Ms. Riotto expressed concerns that this may not fit the definition of voluntary if students are required to pay in order to attend the ceremony.
  • Members discussed the following in regards to the option of eliminating the fee:
    • The pro would be an excellent way to boost our public relations with students and their families.
    • The con is where would the funds come from to cover the cost of the ceremony. 
  • Members discussed the following in regards to the option of instituting a ticket fee:
    • If a certain number of tickets are provided free, how many tickets do we provide? A
      suggestion was to start with two free tickets.
    • How much do we charge for tickets?
    • Currently the graduate ceremony does not require tickets. Tickets would have to be
      added for the graduate ceremony to be consistent and keep a revenue flow for the
      ceremony.
    • There is an administrative burden to this option as there is not a current infrastructure
      for the sale of tickets for the commencement ceremony.
    • When are people allowed to purchase tickets? Is it only prior to the ceremony or can
      they be sold at the door?
    • This option would not help the public relations with students and their families as it
      would take away from the celebration.
  • Members discussed the following in regards to the opt in option for the fee:
    • We would anticipate very limited revenue from the fee as many people would not opt
      in.
    • We would need programming resources from IT to create a mechanism for the fee.
    • There would have to be a date established for this fee. It could not be open ended.
  • Members discussed the following in regards to the modifying the alumni fee:
    • The name would have to change to be inclusive of the fact that a portion of the fee is
      used to fund the ceremony. A suggested name was “Student Alumni Association
      Fee”. This would also help encompass the scholarship aspect. In addition, the fee
      description would have to updated.
    • Members feel this is the best option to obtain some funding for the ceremony.
    • It would be the best way to project the revenue for future years based on prior
      collection.
  • Ms. Riotto stated she would contact Dana Weiss to see if there are any other options we may have missed or suggestions.
  • Members agreed that regardless of the option chosen, alternative resources will need to be found to cover costs of the ceremony.
  • Ms. Riotto asked members to be mindful of how they would like the layout of this proposal in terms of the options. Is the best option listed along with an alternative or do we list all options in ranking order. Members will discuss and finalize this at our next meeting to develop a recommendation to include in our fall 2018 report.

Spring 2019 Items

Due to time constraints, Ms. Riotto briefly mentioned the following items for the committee’s spring planning:

• 2019 Fee-Based Budget Presentations, Approval & Submission
• 2019/20 Course Related Fee Requests, Approval & Submission
• Discussion on the re-engineering of the fee-based budget approval process for 2019/2020.

Next Meeting: December 7, 2018, 8:30-9:15 AM

KR/JZ/mw

Campus Based Fee Review Committee Action Plan List

Committee Members: Libby Caruso/Eileen Daniel/Peter Dowe/Kathy Groves/Crystal Hallenbeck/Teresa Major/Kathy Peterson/Karen Riotto/Dillon Thompson