One of CMU’s most appealing aspects to its students is its budget-friendly cost. One of the driving forces behind that goal has been the rapid growth of the student body year to year. But numbers that rounded out the 2013 fiscal year have cast a shadow on the optimism that our Associated Student Government will be able to keep its streak of constant student fees.

“ASG hasn’t had to raise fees in a number of years,” ASG President Ariel Diamond said. “It’s the growth of the student body that has helped reduce the need to.”

Every two years, student clubs coordinate with ASG to create an operating budget, and what’s left of the student fees goes into an account that can be used on behalf of the students for use in internships to concerts. As 2013 has wound down, that account was running to a noticeable and unfamiliar low, and after ASG’s first meeting of 2014, the amount ASG could spend for the spring semester was $12,520.99.

During the inaugural meeting for 2014, three bills costing over $5,700 went through over the five weeks of winter break. ASG would like to top their spending at $12,520.99, but it’s not necessarily the cap on what they can spend. Each year money is set aside to go into reserves, and this year they aimed to save $30,000, which is a noticeable spike in comparison to years past.

“We have a little more than $42,000 left, which is going to be tight, but fine,” Diamond said.

This school year has been a strange one financially for ASG as around $175,000 has came in from student fees, a noticeable gain according to Diamond. With more students comes a higher cost to operate, but the increase in revenue from fees was able to cover that as well.

“Obamacare” and the requirement for employers to provide health insurance if they meet certain standards also threw a wrench in fee allocations. Previously, ASG used to be able to pay workers such as artists, photographers and designers for pieces of work versus hourly wages, but the requirements for recorded hours worked caused 31 payroll adjustments to the biennial budget that hadn’t been anticipated.

One of the largest distributions of student fees occurred over the last summer as part of a string of executive orders issued by Diamond. Requesting start-up costs for equipment, $53,445 was given in an investment loan deal to CMU’s new entrepreneurial business The Point. The equipment that The Point buys with that money is ASG property and when ASG needs to use it, The Point should be financially stable enough to purchase their own.

By adding activities like concerts and services like MavRides as regular budget items and not expenses to be taken out later, Diamond hopes that the number of unforeseen expenses drops. Eventually, although the growth of the student body won’t outpace the cost of operation, student fees may need to make an inevitable rise.

brjthomp@mavs.coloradomesa.edu