Representatives from around the UW System gathered in Madison Friday to review UW System policies governing allocable segregated university fees.
SUFs, or seg fees,"" are separate from tuition and are paid by all students for services, programs and facilities that support the primary mission of the university.
Board of Regents President Mark Bradley commissioned the special committee Aug. 7 after the Regents denied an appeal by the Associated Students of Madison to overrule Chancellor John Wiley's decision to disallow allocable SUFs to be used for student organizations' off-campus rent.
UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam, Associate Dean of Students Kevin Helmkamp and UW-Madison senior Alex Gallagher represented UW-Madison at the meeting.
In a round robin discussion, the committee considered criteria for recognizing student organizations and the types of activities eligible for funding at each of the represented universities. The biggest issue for discussion was whether there was a clear difference between allocable and non-allocable fees.
""I think problems really arise because of the proximity of the two fees,"" said Gallagher, ASM Student Services Finance Committee chair, at the meeting.
""We look at these the same and they come on tuition bills as the same, but they really represent two separate fees that can be allocated.""
As it stands in the Regent policy, ""students shall have the responsibility for the distribution of those [allocable] fees which constitutes substantial support for campus student activities,"" said Patricia Brady, UW System general counsel.
Non-allocable fees - distributed by the university - cover fixed, on-going costs of student services.
Doug Hendrix, UW System Financial Administration associate vice president, agreed that the distinction was not clear and suggested adding it to the policy, which will be discussed further at the Oct. 15 committee meeting.
