Student Affairs Budget - UC Davis GSA

Please leave your comments below regarding your questions and/or concerns about the Student Affairs Budget for 2009-2010. Below are the groups that fall under the Student Affairs Budget. Grouped together by the type of services they provide or function they serve. Here is the diagram of the Division of Student Affairs

At present, UCD graduate students pay education fees (this is essentially tuition), registration fees, campus based fees, GSHIP health insurance (if you are not insured by an another provider), and if you are a non-resident, then non-resident tuition is also included. Total fees per quarter for 08-09 amount to $3,539.30 for residents and $8541.30 for non-residents. For more information, see the below fee schedules; anticipated fees for 09-10 are also included. For more information, your can also visit UCD Budget and Institutional Analysis.
08-09 Graduate Resident Fees
08-09 Graduate Non-Resident Fees
Preliminary 09-10 Graduate Resident Fees
Preliminary 09-10 Graduate Non-Resident Fees

Please note that your campus-based fees go to support many valued services:
*Graduate Student Association
*Memorial Union
*Campus Expansion Initiative
*Student Facilities Safety Fee
*Student Services Health Fee (Cowell)

Your input in the budget cut process is important to us, therefore we have created a short survey (5-10 minutes) regarding graduate student funding and student services (under Student Affairs). Please help us understand which programs are most important to you by taking the anonymous UCD Campus Based Fees Survey.

Note: this is the only page on the GSA Wiki that does not require a user account to edit. Feel free to be candid, as you can add your comments anonymously. To add your thoughts to this page, simply click on the "edit" button at the top, add your comment to the appropriate section, and click the "save changes" button at the bottom. If you have any technical issues, you can read the help page and/or contact the GSA Public Relations Officer for assistance.

Student Government: ASUCD/Student Assistants to the Chancellor/GSA/LSA

Please add your comments about Student Government: ASUCD/Student Assistants to the Chancellor/GSA/LSA here

CAPS/Cowell Student Health

1) As a graduate student with a significant mental health condition, I believe that maintaining the staff and program at CAPS should be a priority. I had important positive interactions with CAPS staff at both North Hall and Cowell Student Health Center, and as a result I am (after many years) experiencing effective treatment. Other schools I have attended have had mental health programs that focused strongly on treatment of students in acute crisis. I never connected with those programs, even though I was a student in need. The value of CAPS is in its size and the variety of programs directed not just at crisis management, but also overall well-being. I believe this strategy promotes a proactive approach to mental health care in the campus culture, and is effective in transmitting constructive messages to the student body. I experienced it as an accessible, friendly, helpful program, and it has been crucial to my success in graduate school. Not every school offers resources like this. I am grateful that UC Davis has CAPS as a resource for students.

2) How vulnerable is the program/staff at CAPS to budget cuts? ~Annon.

The mental health initiative means "mental health" (which is a myriad of things) is protected from cuts again this year. CAPS was protected last year but isn't this upcoming year. So if you think we should stress the importance of CAPS, let us know. ~Marrah

3) I have never heard of or used CAPS, but having affordable access to health care is one of my very highest priorities! Keeping health insurance and the health center, especially for physical injury (and secondarily to mental health) is important to me. ~Annon.

4) I think both CAPS and Cowell Student Health Center provide vital services to graduate (and undergraduate) students and should be protected from cuts. With the dismal state of health care in this country, the last thing we need to be cutting is health services for students! ~Annon

5) I think the CAPS budget should be listed as a separate item from the Cowell Student Health Center Budget so we can have a better sense of how much they are costing the university. Personally, I do not use CAPS because I have found them ineffective and there are serious diversity issues that CAPS would need to fix before I would feel conformable going to them again. ~Annon

CAPS and Cowell are separate in the budget. They are simply listed here together as for discussion purposes. Therefore when discussing funding they are not lumped together. ~Marrah

6) Access to affordable Physical Health care is my number one priority, the Cowell Student Health Center and North Hall doctors are great and should be protected! None of us will be effective students if we get sick or injured and have no way to get better.

7) Access to affordable Physical Health care is my number one priority; the Cowell Student Health Center and North Hall doctors are great and should be protected! No one can be an effective student if they are sick/injured and cant get better. Everything in life boils down to Health; sure other things on campus are nice but at the end of the day without your health you cant use things.

Campus Recreation/Memorial Union/Bookstores

Please add your comments about Campus Recreation/Memorial Union/Bookstores here

1) I think the MU in a great place for all types of students to hang out; a great improvement to campus. ~Annon.

2) I think two things: A) If cuts do NOT damage current use privileges, then I'm all for lowering Campus Rec funding.
B) In the past, many budget cuts have not affected upgrades or building projects which seem to have separate funding sources, instead they have simply cost me more out of pocket to participate in what I used to do for free. I value physical health, and would hate to have to pay to use the ARC.

I believe the ARC was part of a referendum and upkeep was not built into the fee structure (but I am not certain of this). I think you can find the details of the referendum on the UCD site but here is a bit more on Educational Fees ~ Marrah
Campus Rec, like other Student Affairs units, have received a couple funding cuts in the past ~1.5 years. I believe that Campus Rec has started levying fees for things that were previously free (e.g., towels) in order to recover some of that money. ~Erica

3) If cuts are to be made, this seems like a potential starting place. Campus Rec. facilities like the ARC are fabulous, but the constant upgrades could be put on hold while vital services elsewhere on campus are maintained. ~Annon.

Advising Services/Academic Preparation Programs/Learning Skills Center/Internship and Career Center

Please add your comments about Advising Services/Academic Preparation Programs/Learning Skills Center/Internship and Career Center here

1) I for one, have never used these services. With the exception of the mandatory TA workshop.

2) I am a staff member at the Internship and Career Center. We have an entire program area devoted to Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Career Services. These include CV Writing workshops, the Pathways Career Symposium, The Careers in Higher Education Seminar Series, co-sponsorship of the Professional Development Series with Graduate Studies, one-on-one career advising and much more. Sorry for the shameless self-promotion here - but if people don't know about our services I'd really like to get the word out. We regularly have 200+ attend our Pathways Symposium so I do think people know about us but perhaps they don't connect us with the Internship & Career Center. You can visit our Grad/Postdoc page at http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/index.htm ~ Teresa Dillinger

Services for International Students and Scholars

Please add your comments about Services for International Students and Scholars here

Financial Aid/Office of University Registrar/Undergraduate Admissions

1) The preliminary increase in graduate fees would increase ~900/year, which seems pretty substantial (considering it is ~10,600 now). Just wondering if funding from the university would continue to cover these fees (Scholar Awards that include all fees, TA positions that cover most fees, etc.) OR would the increase be put onto the graduate student? Thanks! ~Annon.

Change in fee structure would only affect students if they pay their own fees (via cash, outside work, financial aid, etc). If you have a campus based appointment with fee remission, as far as I know, at this point... it will continue to be covered with that position. Therefore, the TA/GSR position would continue to offset your fees. ~Marrah

2) I think the response to #1 above is a little misleading. Fee remissions for TA positions — and all other ASE positions covered by the UAW collective bargaining agreement — cover reg and education fees, but not the campus-based fees. So, the increases in campus-based fees — admittedly a very small proportion of the increases in the proposed budget — will be coming out of ASEs' pockets.

Actually I see where you are getting at now. There is about $200 in fees not typically covered by the bargaining agreement (I looked into it). However, after seeing this post, I asked around and even examined my own account. Many departments cover these fees. So based on your department or your major professor's appointments where you register for research credits, these fees will never charged to the student. However, I am sure that this isn't the case university-wide (as you've made this point) so I will make sure to address this issue. I'll see if there is a way to find out how many departments actually cover these costs and how many don't. Also, we can see what fees directly fall under this sum when evaluating what fees need to be increased/decreased. ~Marrah
One thing to note is that academic units (i.e. colleges) are also experiencing cuts in the proposed 09-10 budget (for most academic units it is ~1-3% cut; total across all academic units is ~$8-10 million in cuts). Each unit is individually deciding how to handle these cuts, however specifics are not available at this time. ~Erica

Student Affairs Research and Information/Student Judicial Affairs

Please add your comments about Student Affairs Research and Information/Student Judicial Affairs here

Student Life: CCC/Coordinators for Student Affairs in Ethnic Studies/LBGTRC/SPAC/WRRC

Please add your comments about Student Life: CCC/Coordinators for Student Affairs in Ethnic Studies/LBGTRC/SPAC/WRRC here

1) Protect funding for programs supporting Student Affairs in Ethnic Studies/LBGTRC/SPAC/WRRC. The University of California is a public institution and federal Land Grant University. However, despite its mandate to serve the public it continues to exemplify an exclusive and elitist demographic. I am a racialized ‘white’, gendered ‘male’ with a graduate degree who understands the benefits of my socially constructed identity. ALL people in the U.S. are promised the benefits of a public education. Today, the reality is that thanks to ongoing institutionalized racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexim, our institutions serve and protect the interests of demographics who have already accumulated social and material wealth, power, and privilege (typified by “white, male, class ascended, hetero identities”). The societal playing field has never been even, and is far from being even. We are slowly making improvements towards fulfilling the promise of America to be a just and fair society. However, funding programs that clearly benefit those with systemically inherited power and privilege, while cutting those that are struggling to fulfill America’s promise, is simply unintelligent and cruel. I do not hate my identity, nor do I carry unproductive guilt for what my ancestors may or may not have done. Its not about me, its not personal, its about the system and its design flaws that perpetuate inequality. I’m not a socialist, or communist, though I don’t demonize these theories. I’m an American who is willing to struggle to realize our U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Geneva Conventions, and U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A just and sustainable world is possible… if we are willing to redesign the system. ~Damian Parr

2) To me, these should be the first areas to get cut. In this economic downturn, what we are most concerned with is keeping our jobs, GSA/GSR positions, funding streams, etc. Students who are interested in banding together on various niche issues will always do so, with or without specifically funded staff and centers. There are lots of little side issues that I am personally interested in, that do not currently have a dedicated center, but that doesn't bother me and hasn't impacted my involvement. Let's see if we can move some of this funding elsewhere. ~Annon.

Please see below: the student affairs budget does not impact TA or GSA funding. ~Marrah
It is also worth noting that Graduate Studies grad student support is completely protected (no cuts) for the 09-10 fiscal year. ~Erica

3) I agree with point #2, these should be the first areas to get cut. I don't use these programs. My opinion is that only a small percentage of graduate students use these programs. Therefore, I say cut them. Keep the funding for GSA/GSR positions and travel awards, items that a larger percentage of students could use.

Graduate studies funding for graduate students is protected this year. Yes, GSA will receive a cut which could directly affect the GSA issued travel awards (but may be not those offered by Grad Studies). GSR money comes from grants from major professors, therefore moving money from the centers wouldn't filter to GSR money. TA funds do come from Graduate Studies and this year this funding is protected. Therefore, at this point the only money that will be lost from your above suggested areas would be the GSA travel awards; but the amount of money GSA gets from Student Affairs is not a huge portion of our budget. ~Marrah
Grad Studies will also experience cuts in 09-10; they are forecasted to receive a 6-7% budget cut. So far as I know, the Grad Studies travel award is not necessarily protected. As Marrah said, GSA does not get much of its funds from Student Affairs. Most GSA funding comes from a campus based fee directly to GSA. Both of these funding sources could potentially be impacted in the 09-10 year. ~Erica
I do not know whether Grad Studies travel awards are protect or not. However, this money comes from Grad Studies, not Student Affairs. So cutting these programs, or any Student Affairs programs, would not affect the travel awards in either direction. ~ Cynthia

4) I'm not sure where this should go, but I would like to say that the most helpful program to me in my 6 years here was the Breastfeeding Support Program. It's fabulous and I don't think that it should suffer from budget cuts. It only supports a small number of graduate students, but it is so important to those of us with young children and it makes it possible to pursue an education while being a mom.

This program is sponsored for the staff as well, therefore it falls under Human Resources; a division not encompassed by the Student Affairs budget. However, all divisions across the board will potentially receive cuts & this could certainly include HR. However, we will keep this on our agenda of things to protect if it does come up in any of our meetings. ~Marrah

5) I think these programs are vital for increasing awareness of and giving a voice to underrepresented groups on campus. While some, like the above poster, may see them as mere "niche issues," an environment of inclusiveness truly benefits the entire university. I would rather see bloated programs which could be funded in another way (i.e. athletics) subjected to cuts than see already underfunded programs such as these cut any further. ~Annon

6) Because CAPS has serious diversity issues, I use the LGBTRC instead to talk things out after contemplating suicide or to go to a safe place where I know that I would be welcomed. LGBT students have significantly high rates of suicides because discrimination/hate against them still exists in society as well as on campus. LGBT students need a safe place to go and belong. The LGBTRC provides inclusive and diversity training which is a service that is still much needed on campus. ~Annon

Intercollegiate Athletics/Student Affairs Development/Student Housing

Please add your comments about Intercollegiate Athletics/Student Affairs Development/Student Housing here

1) I think we could make significant cuts in the amount of landscaping maintenance that we currently have at the Parks. We do not need as much leaf-blowing, verge-trimming or even mowing, especially as the days get hotter. Hopefully this could save funds. ~Annon.

Good point. I can tell you from our last meeting on 4/14 that they are already looking into consolidation of functions around campus which includes facilties management (i.e. grounds). Therefore they are looking to streamline functions, centralize the "business aspects" of several units/HR. But please do keep in mind that although these are cost saving measures; it could mean a loss of jobs. Thanks for your comment and when we address the issues of "consolidation" I will certainly bring up your point. ~Marrah

2) I agree with comment #1. And while streamlining may help, i think the fundamental point is that they're over-landscaping. The lawns are mowed too frequently, and kept so short they're not that comfortable to sit on. Leaf blowing is a waste of fuel, time, and money, it gets everything dirty and dusty, disturbs pollens and increases allergy suffering, and it's a noise nuisance to people who live or work anywhere in the area. ~Annon.

3) As for loss of jobs, i'd totally rather pay someone to sweep once or twice in the fall, rather than the noisy and watseful leafblowing every week. Also it kind of seems like they're making work for themselves sometimes. I often see the same guy going around mowing twice. ~Annon.

Certainly these will all be addressed in the re-assessment of divisions they want to make more efficient. But I'll make sure to find out the appropriate channel to convey these ideas to. I think we will see a decrease in over zealous campus grooming, more so with the push for sustainable landscaping. ~Marrah

4) Is there going to be any change on how we use our electricity on campus? Some rooms and restrooms throughout the campus still don't have motion sensors on them. While it might cost some money to enact a change like motion sensors for lighting, it may save the campus money during those times when there are no students, faculty or staff on campus. Besides a measure such as this would not mean the loss of a job, and we would still save some money.

Many lab buildings are already doing half lighting on campus. Also Dateline featured some cost cut tests done in Mrak during winter break featuring the amount of money saved. So pilot projects are ongoing: example NE parking structure motion sensored lighting which could expand across campus. I'd suggest you check the campus sustainability site for more info but we can certainly find out more if you'd like. ~Marrah

5) Mmmm...I work in many of the lab buildings, and there is very little half lighting. What I see more often is lights left on in unused classrooms, lights left on in unused "common" rooms, and generally extra lights left on. I know there is a large initial cost, but installing light sensors in some of the older buildings (in addition to the modern ones which I know have them) could save a lot. I second the idea. ~Random

I'd suggest taking the intiative in those buildings to get them to reduce lighting. I think that is something a group of students could certainly present to the administration in their department to reduce light usage. Also, starting such a movement could also create awareness for labs who may leave their lights on 24 hours a day: thus getting them to shut off lights when they leave at night decreasing waste. It only takes one person to create awareness in social responsibility and conservation. There are some major plans to change our campus and be more "green" including some improvements. Please see the campus plan Sustainability at UC Davis for more information. ~Marrah

6) Athletics seems like an area that could withstand some cuts. ~Annon.

7) I agree with above, in the 06-07 school year UC Davis gave out $4.1 million in athletic scholarships. For some schools this amount of funding for athletics makes economic sense - if you get the best athletes people will pay to watch them play. Now, I don't want to say that our athletes are sub par, but they are a net drain on school funds. As much as I hate to say it, athletic scholarships should be cut. I love sports, but when essential quality of life issues are on the chopping block (i.e. health center, caps, housing...) non-essential programs need to go.

8) We just got word at Orchard Park that unpaved patio spaces are now going to be paved over and 'landscaped." to quote from the email: This work includes demolition of the existing patios and courtyard areas, trenching and installation of new water and drain pipes, construction of new patios, fences and bike racks and setting new plants. This work is scheduled to take two months to complete, finishing in early July. Some construction activities require the use of heavy power equipment and will produce noise and dust." — This is a USELESS process! It cuts off some of the last truly garden-able space in the Parks and is expensive. Surely we could save $$ here?

9) Why do the sprinklers on campus go off during rainstorms? Seems like a waste.