MCECS Student Fees - Where Does It Go?
As a Portland State student, I pay a certain amount of money in tuition and fees (such as for health services and campus computers). Additionally, as an MCECS student, I pay a "FEAS Enginr Study Resource Fee." Over the last two years, each quarter I've paid $35 per credit, for a total of $315 per quarter. What is this money and where does it go?
Unfortunately, no official account of this fee seems to exist. So today I spoke to Jennifer Chambers, MCECS Chief Accounting and Budgetary Officer about this fee. Below is the information gleaned from that conversation.
In the past, the fee has been allocated in two broad categories - one fixed and one variable.
Fees allocated towards the fixed category have been relatively constant in the past and will continue to be in the future. In the fixed category, the fee pays for the 3 core services. The first is the Computer Action Team (CAT), whose budget is about 75% covered by the fee. The rest of the CAT budget is paid for by Portland State from various sources, including research monies. The second pays for space in the Fourth Avenue Building, which is leased, including both lab and classroom space. The third item is student services on the first floor of the Engineering Building, including career services and administration of scholarship money.
The variable category is less well defined. Essentially, it acts as an overflow, where money goes that is not allocated to the fixed category. In the past, this money has been spent by individual MCECS departments on a need basis, such as for staff positions and equipment. Starting 2007-2008, the money will likely be split up amongst the 5 MCECS departments, although what proportion goes to what department is not yet defined. This money will go into each departments' general budgets.
During the 2005-2006 school year, the total amount of money collected through the fee was about $900,000 and during 2006-2007 it was about $870,000. The amount collected next year will depend on how many students take MCECS classes.
The question of what is the exact breakdown of the fee remains. The answer should be available in the middle of next term, and I shall relay it to you here.
Unfortunately, no official account of this fee seems to exist. So today I spoke to Jennifer Chambers, MCECS Chief Accounting and Budgetary Officer about this fee. Below is the information gleaned from that conversation.
In the past, the fee has been allocated in two broad categories - one fixed and one variable.
Fees allocated towards the fixed category have been relatively constant in the past and will continue to be in the future. In the fixed category, the fee pays for the 3 core services. The first is the Computer Action Team (CAT), whose budget is about 75% covered by the fee. The rest of the CAT budget is paid for by Portland State from various sources, including research monies. The second pays for space in the Fourth Avenue Building, which is leased, including both lab and classroom space. The third item is student services on the first floor of the Engineering Building, including career services and administration of scholarship money.
The variable category is less well defined. Essentially, it acts as an overflow, where money goes that is not allocated to the fixed category. In the past, this money has been spent by individual MCECS departments on a need basis, such as for staff positions and equipment. Starting 2007-2008, the money will likely be split up amongst the 5 MCECS departments, although what proportion goes to what department is not yet defined. This money will go into each departments' general budgets.
During the 2005-2006 school year, the total amount of money collected through the fee was about $900,000 and during 2006-2007 it was about $870,000. The amount collected next year will depend on how many students take MCECS classes.
The question of what is the exact breakdown of the fee remains. The answer should be available in the middle of next term, and I shall relay it to you here.
posted by emerson at 11:16 AM
2 Comments:
While these explanations are showing us where our ~1000 a year are going, I think some of them may be worthwhile discussing. For instance:
(1) Why are students paying rent? -- You specifically mention that part of the fees go there, well.. how about moving to the Engineering Building or the Library?
(2) The variability of those fees sounds interesting. The fact that there is no clear percentage division (If I read it correctly, it varies year to year) may be an indication that there is some room for improvement.
(3) Should the students pay extra for Student Services? How come that doesn't come from departmental/university resources?
... just trying to understand why engineering students are heavily taxed over, say, business students.
As for (3), I haven't used these services, so I'm not sure what they offer. The way I understand it, we pay for a different career center than the usual PSU one.
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