Students can expect to see a $23 increase in the Student Activity Fee by Spring 2016, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. Each student would be required to pay $50 instead of the current $27.

SGA senators unanimously voted in favor of raising the fee by $8 in the upcoming fall semester and by $5 in the proceeding three fall and spring semesters at the April 3 meeting.

The resolution has been sent to President William Cale and the university vice presidents for review. The Board of Trustees will vote on the increase at their next meeting Monday, June 9.

“My experience with all of this is that if the students ask for this specifically, the Board will probably say yes,” Cale said.

The Student Activity Fee provides funding for University Programming Council to host events on campus and for the Budget Oversight Committee to allocate funds to student organizations to attend academic conferences and plan events, said Director of Student Engagement Tammy Jacques.

“With a gradual increase this could be very beneficial for our UNA students and student organizations to enhance their experience on campus,” Jacques said. “The increase could be very beneficial for UPC to improve quality and quantity of programs, such as spring concert and movie nights.”

The Budget Oversight Committee would see the greatest increase in funds under the proposed fee hike.

The committee’s funding for student organizations would raise from $133,350 to $236,544 per year, according to the new breakdown of the fee.

Budget Oversight Committee Chairperson Jordan Graham, a co-author of the resolution, said the proposed increase has not come without extensive research.

The committee has been looking at the fees of other Division II schools and Division I schools in the Ohio Valley Conference, where UNA hopes to land in the future, Graham said.

“We are actually on the low end,” he said. “Most school’s fees are a lot higher than ours. For us to have better programming and be able to fund student organizations, we need more money in our budget.”

Senior Hannah Williams questions the need for increasing the fee.

“Honestly, I think they had enough money before. I just don’t think it was necessary to increase it,” Williams said. “I can kind of understand why they would do it, but I don’t think that should have to come out of our tuition.”

Since the Student Activity Fee was established in 1999, it has fulfilled its purpose, said Vice President for Student Affairs David Shields.

“It has provided opportunities for clubs and organizations for funding that they didn’t have before so we have had a record number of activities from student organizations based on funding that comes from that fee,” Shields said.

UPC would receive $236,544, instead of the current $146,050 per year, Leadership and Volunteerism would receive $48,384 and Miss UNA would receive $16,128, according to the new fee breakdown presented by the Budget Oversight Committee.

There has been a significant need from student organizations for more funding, Jacques said.

“Expanding this funding could be a way to enhance the success of our student organizations by allowing them to participate in academic conferences to present their research and network with professionals in their fields,” she said.

Kyle Enloe, an SGA senator, said he voted in favor of the increase because students he talked to were in favor.

“The overall assessment of student opinion I’ve made is this is totally worth it,” Enloe said. “The entire student body is going to benefit through the programming put on by SGA that will foster diversity, that will foster recruitment and that will foster a lot of things positively for UNA.”

Junior Haden Hipp thinks it is beneficial to increase the fee for campus organizations.

“I think it’s OK if they bump it up to get more money to organizations,” Hipp said. “It’s a good idea as long as it can benefit everyone on campus.”