The recently approved student activity fee will aid students and student groups alike by providing more funding to aid and entertain.
In aims of creating more opportunities to enjoy themselves without necessarily needing to cross High Street, university administrators, in conjunction with the three student governments, created the student activity fee last spring.
The fee, which charges $15 each quarter to incoming students, amounts to a total of $2.18 million for the 2003-04 school year. While the majority of the funding has been allocated to campus-wide programming administered by the Ohio Union Activities Board, the remaining money trickled down to other on-campus organizations, each eagerly thirsty for a budget funding relief.
Twenty-four percent of this year’s activity fee, roughly $517,000, was allocated to student organization funding, which includes undergraduate, graduate and professional student organizations, sports clubs and the Student Organizations Resource Center. The number of student organizations at OSU has increased significantly over the past year and is expected to top off at 800 registered student organizations by the end of the school year.
“As far as the number of active groups that we have, we ended up last year with 685. We’ve never had that many. As of last week, we’re already up to 630,” said Matt Couch, assistant director of the Ohio Union.
The activity fee is believed to have facilitated an increase in possibility for groups on campus wishing to organize, Couch said.
“Groups that maybe didn’t organize themselves because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get enough resources to do anything are now getting together,” he said.
Nine percent of the student activity fee was allocated to a community, cultural and entertainment discounting program. The program, which offers students discounted tickets to various cultural and sporting events throughout the city and state, is by far the most popular outcome of the student activity fee, said Tracy Stuck, director of the Ohio Union and Student Activities.
“Broadway shows are, by far, the most popular thing at the moment. We can’t keep up with our ticket demand at the present moment,” Stuck said.
Other discounts through the program offer lower admission rates to places like COSI, the Columbus Zoo and the Columbus Museum of Art. Students are encouraged to check www.explorecolumbus.com to see the various event discounts that are offered.
“As an Ohio State student, you can now get a better deal than anybody in the city,” Couch said.
Ten percent of the activity fee will help expand student government funding. The Undergraduate Student Government, Graduate Student Council and Inter-Professional Council received divided portions of the student activity fee.
USG, which received $161,320, plans to focus on significant changes on campus, said Mike Goodman, president of USG.
“There’s not enough emphasis on students here and now,” Goodman said.
Goodman suggested ideas for USG’s $110,000 budget increase, such as an online textbook exchange program, information kiosks throughout the off-campus area and other on-campus projects.
CGS received an extra $15,600 in funding this year through the student activity fee, which will go toward its committee project budget as well as its fall and spring picnics, said Jamie Depelteau, president of CGS.
The remainder of the student activity fee provided three additional one-time items. Buck-iTV received $50,000. The Underground, OSU’s student radio station, received $22,500. The forensics speech and debate team received $2,500.
