A $5 increase to the Student Activity Fee was opened for discussion by the Senate branch of the Student Government Association at the Jan. 23 meeting.

The fee, charged to all students taking at least one on-campus course, is currently $27 per semester and charged as part of tuition for fall, spring and summer.

The proposed increase would provide more funds for the Senate Budget Oversight Committee’s student allocation funding and for the University Program Council’s event planning budget, said Jordan Graham, chairman of the budget oversight committee.

“If we do raise the fee, I want to see the additional money split between UPC and student allocation funding so that we can have more big-name live acts on campus for students to come to,” Graham said. “More money for student allocation funding will mean more for student organizations.”

A resolution would not be brought to the Senate floor until more research is done and student opinion is heard, he said.

“It’s their money, so we want to hear from (students) before we make any decisions,” Graham said.

Abigail Joiner, a sophomore is not opposed to an increase in the fee, she said.

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind paying an extra $5, but it might make a difference to someone who’s struggling to pay tuition,” Joiner said.

The current budgeting of the fee needs to be restructured to benefit an optimal number of students, said freshman Anna Hendrix.

“The fee just needs to be reorganized to affect more people, not raised,” Hendrix said.

The fee’s current size is due to the way it is structured, said Tammy Jacques, director of student engagement.

The fee is budgeted around an estimate of 5,500 students paying tuition during fall and spring and 1,700 during the summer. If registration is parallel to that estimate, the activity fee budget operates on $342,900 for the year, Jacques said.

For example, the budget for the University Program Council comes directly out of this fund.

UPC’s $146,050 per year budget is used to fund events for all students such as homecoming, movie nights, comedy shows, the Spring Concert and Step-Show and Step-Sing, said UPC Vice President Walter Hartley.

“We try to host events that will bring in as many students as possible,” Hartley said. “We just haven’t found that one avenue of marketing that will bring in the most students.”

Freshman Darius Asher sees UPC’s funding as a necessity, he said.

“You’ve got to have events like the ones that UPC puts on,” said Freshman Darius Asher. “That’s part of the social aspect of college.”

Asher made his decision to come to UNA based largely on the fact that J. Cole performed at UPC’s Spring Concert in 2012, he said.

“We pay $27 — a minuscule amount out of our tuition — but it would cost at least $50 to see somebody like J. Cole in concert somewhere,” he said. “And, we get all kinds of other events for that $27, too.”

Student Allocation Funding is used to provide money to more than 120 registered student organizations on campus, and this funding receives $133,350 of the fee’s revenue, Jacques said.

“(The RSO’s) put in a request formoney to pay for on-campus events for members and other students, conferences, travel, T-shirts, you name it. They get the money requested only if the Senate Budget Oversight Committee approves it,” Jacques said. “Once the funds are gone for the year, we have to deny all other requests, unless an organization doesn’t use all of the money allocated.”

Samantha Latham, a sophomore, said thinks the budget for student allocation funding is not adequate.

“I don’t think that’s enough money for student organizations to have all year,” Latham said. “I’d be fine with an increase in the student activity fee as long as students knew where the money was going — events, clubs and organizations for students.”