by Dezmond Remington
The Associated Students is holding a referendum on raising the AS fee on April 17. The AS fee is currently $58 per semester, and is paid by every student. The fee if the referendum passes will be $67.50 a semester.
The Associated Students funds a lot of things on campus, such as CCAT, the Womxn’s Resource Center, and Oh Snap, as well as the hardship fund that has paid for free meal swipes for students. The AS fee is their main source of funding. The proposed fee increase will raise their budget from $600,000 to $1 million dollars. The last few years, AS spending has exceeded $1 million, with the difference made up through various reserve and rollover funds. According to AS President Juan Guerrero, that option is completely exhausted. A fee increase is the best way to pay for all the services students want, allowing AS to keep the various jobs they pay for, as well as serve future students better. The proposed fee increase will make up the $400,000 difference entirely.
The last fee increase was in 2015, long before the current inflation. According to Guerrero, to treat students now with the same amount of care students have received in years past, AS needs more money.
“We’re not campus,” Guerrero said. “We’re student ran and student driven. Our impact is more substantial than campus, and we need to keep doing that…$19 isn’t a big ask if we want to ensure maximum employment and maximum opportunities.”
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