Due to a reported projected decline in enrollment, ASISU funding for line items will decrease in varying amounts in the 2013-2014 academic year.
ASISU’s budget comes directly from ISU students who pay ASISU fees with their tuition. Enrollment was down in the 2012-2013 academic year and is projected to drop again in the 2013-2014 year.
The budget was finalized on Wednesday, April 10.
“Students shouldn’t be paying more and getting less for their money,” said ASISU President Matt Bloxham. “We wanted to try to help make sure that although tuition is going up, we’re going to try to keep the same level of student programming and student activities on campus. Those activities are free and affordable [for students] so we want to have as many of those as possible.”
Line items on ASISU’s budget include The Bengal newspaper, Civic Symphony, International Affairs Council, KISU-FM, student government, Theatre ISU, student activities on all ISU campuses, student organizations, revenue and transfer and club funding.
ASISU Vice President Anjel Zamora, ASISU Finance Officer Aaron McCabe and Bloxham all said a lot of thought and discussion went into creating the projected budget. The budget committee reportedly heard approximately 30 minute presentations from each line item that would be affected during meetings leading up to the finalization of the budget.
“We looked at a lot of variables,” explained Zamora. “We all have to do more with less. We’re trying to adjust so students aren’t limited in what they do.”
“We tried keep as many students involved as possible,” added McCabe. “Even club funding took a hit.”
Revenue and transfer is the only item that won’t see a decrease. All other line items will see a .75 percent cut with the exceptions of The Bengal newspaper, KISU-FM and student government which will all see larger percentage cuts.
Club funding’s exact cuts were unclear due to discrepancies in budget reports and statements from ASISU officials, however it was clear that the initial deposit for clubs will decrease from $500 to $300.
The Bengal newspaper and student government will both see a 2 percent cut while KISU-FM will see an 8 percent cut, or just over $10, 200.
Director of Student Media at ISU and General Manager of KISU-FM Jerry Miller explained what the larger cut to KISU would mean.
“It means we’re gonna have to cut back on some things we planned on doing,” said Miller. “We’d planned on trying to make some changes that would facilitate students being able to use the station as more of an academic lab and I see us putting that off for at least a year.”
Miller said other effects would depend on the potential ripple effect of ASISU’s cuts.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization that gives [KISU] grant funding every year, [has] a bylaw in effect regarding grant recipients,” explained Miller. “If they sense that ASISU cut our budget because that grant money makes it easier for us to get by, then they can pull our entire grant if they want.”
Miller said KISU-FM has to submit audited financial reports to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting each year and they will look through things and decide if they will take action.
“I’ve never heard of it happening before, but it’s one of their rules that we have to consider and abide by,” said Miller.
Bloxham reported the cuts to KISU-FM stemmed from a projected surplus in their budget as well as the lack of a loan payment KISU-FM was previously making to ASISU.
In 2009, KISU-FM took an interest-free loan of $50,000 from ASISU to get a transmitter in Idaho Falls to expand their broadcast range. KISU reportedly had 5 years to pay the loan back and paid it back in 3 years. The last payment, according to Miller, was made in July 2012.
“If I go to my employer to borrow money because I have medical bills and I agree to pay it back on a schedule, and once I pay that borrowed money off my employer says, ‘Well, obviously you didn’t need that money so I’m gonna cut your salary by that much, the amount you were using to pay me back,’ to me it’s kind of the same mindset,” explained Miller. “If you had the money to pay us back, you don’t need that much money. What ASISU doesn’t understand is the things KISU went without to pay back that loan.”
Miller expressed that KISU went without equipment upgrades and replacements, stating that some pieces of equipment at KISU have been there since 1999.
Bloxham responded to Miller’s concerns and expressed that ASISU did the best it could not to pull funding but KISU doesn’t have a payment anymore and rather than have $10,000 in revenue or carry-over they cut that funding.
“The last thing I wanted was for the cuts to be a penalty, because it’s really not. If we had an excess budget, I would want to reward KISU for being so fiscally responsible and getting the loan paid back early,” said Bloxham, “but I have a responsibility for the students and I’m really between a rock and a hard spot and we needed to do what was best for students and we made a tough decision.”
Miller said he wanted to make clear that while he was “anything but happy about the cuts,” he understood and had no animosity regarding the situation.
Revenue and transfer is a line item that Bloxham said he did not have the option to cut.
Although club funding’s initial deposit decreased significantly, Bloxham, Zamora and McCabe maintain that clubs still have opportunities to “earn back” that money.
“We kept our match deposits at $1,300, so for every $3 a club raises, this counts for fundraising as well, ASISU will match them $1 up to that $1,300 max,” said McCabe.
McCabe said only 68 out of 186 clubs applied for match deposits this year. He said ASISU is encouraging clubs to take advantage of the opportunity.
ASISU is also still awarding incentive points and their resulting funds each semester. Incentive points funding will remain at $7,500. Points are given to clubs for their activities, participation and involvement. This spring, each point was reportedly worth just over $2.