The Student Services Fee Advisory Board began its allocation of $2 million worth of funds to 15 of 28 student services fee project proposals on Monday evening.
Among the top funded programs approved for 2014 were the Veterans Education and Transition Services, the Dean of Students Office Graduate and Professional Studies Program, the Women’s Resource Center and Scholarship Universe.
“We’ve been working really hard to do these proposals and review them,” said Arielle Allen, vice chair of the board. “They’re all great.”
However, the proposals for the allocation of funds for Daily Wildcat Jobs: Creation, Retention, Transition and Ensuring an Extraordinary Student Experience failed after members agreed that the proposal was not a proper use of student services fee money.
This year, the board had a new development to allow each presenter five minutes to discuss and share their proposal with the board prior to the meeting, so board members could better understand the proposal, according to Allen.
The first item on the agenda was the Veterans Education and Transition Services proposal. The program provides a vital service to the UA Campus, according to Olukemi Oso, the secretary of the fee advisory board.
“As the current wars are ending we’ll be expecting to have an even higher number of vets on our campus, so it’s important that we have a vital space for them,” Oso said.
The program, which initially proposed an allocation of $343,700 for three years, was given funding for two years. The program will be given $123,200 for the first year and $109,500 for the second.
The Dean of Students Office Graduate and Professional Studies Program was approved for $207,900 for two years.
The Women’s Resource Center received $150,000 for two years and the Scholarship Universe program was approved for $209,200 for two years.
“Scholarships did rank high on our survey so it’s good to make sure that we’re supporting proposals that are reaching as many as students as possible,” said Jeffrey Rightnowar, marketing director of the board.
Other approved proposals were The Common Ground Alliance Project, approved for $88,700 for one year, The Prodigy Program, approved for $98,600 for one year, the GPSC Grants Program which was approved for $162,000 for one year and the Pathway to Academic Student Success Probation Program, also approved for one year for the amount of $251,900.
“At the end of the day it’s up to the board essentially just to see what they think about a proposal, how they feel about it, and make a decision … as to whether they choose to fund it or not,” said Joel Hauff, interim director of Arizona Student Unions and advisor to the board.
