Committee to focus on fees

By Caryn Rosenberg

Requests slated for discussion at the next President’s Fee Study Committee meeting will require no fee increases, NIU administrators said.

The President’s Fee Study Committee will meet Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in Lowden Hall 201. The committee meets each year to consider requests from fee-supported groups such as the University Health Center, Student Affairs and Intercollegiate Athletics.

The committee meeting will focus on the Student-to-Student Matching Grant, the Student Association Grant-in-Aid and the University Health Center.

“They have all submitted for no increase (in fees),” Committee Chairman Donald Davidson said.

SA President Preston Came said although no fee increase is needed at this time for the matching grant, an increase might be needed sometime in the near future. The matching grant is a program which provides financial aid packaging for economically deprived NIU students, he added.

However, Came said the current fee for the SA Grant-in-Aid, a scholarship program available for outstanding incoming freshmen, will be sufficient for the next three or four years.

Requests made to the committee go through several channels before being approved or denied.

“We solicit requests with a complete budget,” Davidson said. “Then we set up a series of dates and review with representatives their requests.”

Davidson said the committee then deliberates over the requests, votes on them and submits the requests to NIU President John La Tourette for his approval.