1. POLICY

   Salt Lake Community College will appoint a student fee board to oversee the creation, review, and maintenance of required student fees. The student fee board will serve as a recommending body to the executive cabinet.

2. REFERENCES
   1. General Student Fees, Utah State Board of Higher Education r. 516.
   2. Tuition, Utah State Board of Higher Education r. 510.
   3. Funding of Student Centers, Utah State Board of Higher Education r. 713.
   4. Capital Facilities, Utah State Board of Higher Education r. 701
   5. Physical Education, Intramural Sports, and Special Event Facilities, Utah State Board of Higher Education r. 761.
3. DEFINITIONS
   1. General Student Fees: refers to institution-wide mandatory fees assessed to students upon registration that benefit students broadly and support the general student fee structure included in the tuition and fees schedule. The general student fee does not include course fees or administrative fees. Student fee assessment can be viewed on the Tuition and Fees webpage.
   2. Student at Large: a currently enrolled student who does not hold any formal leadership position on campus.
   3. Majority: more than half of a total.
   4. Fund Balance: the amount of money available in department budgets at the end of the fiscal year.
   5. Carry Forward Dollars: unexpended balances at the end of the fiscal year that will rollover to the next fiscal year.
   6. Total Fee Allocation: annual fee revenue plus carry forward dollars.
   7. Capital Facilities: fixed capital assets such as buildings and structures, real estate, utilities and distribution infrastructure, landscape features, landscape (surface parking, plazas, sidewalks, and exterior stairs and ramps), roadways, campus lighting, and other improvements that serve and protect the general purposes of an institution.
   8. Hold Harmless: an agreement between parties in which one assumes the potential liability that may arise from a situation and thus relieves the other of liability.
   9. Truth-in-Tuition Hearing: an open meeting held every year between the end of the Utah legislative session and the Board of Trustees approval of tuition rates for the upcoming year in order to be transparent and to gather feedback from students to be shared with the Board of Trustees.
4. PROCEDURES
   1. General Information
      
      1. Student fees may be used to fund activities, programs, and services from which the general student body may benefit, to secure construction bonds, and fund operation, maintenance, and capital improvements to student-approved facilities for the enrichment of the student experience.
      2. Procedures for Creating, Reviewing, and Recommending Student Fees
         
         1. New student fees must be supported by demonstrated need, clear statements describing the fee purpose, and a detailed and sound budgetary plan.
         2. Timeline
            
            1. During each fall semester, the vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management will announce to the college community the upcoming timeline to request and review fees.
            2. Student fee board members will be oriented to the student fee budgets in the fall semester in anticipation of the board meetings.
            3. Student fee board meetings will be held in December through February to align with the executive cabinet budget meetings, Truth in Tuition and the Utah State Board of Higher Education tuition and fee approval meetings.
            4. During March, the student fee board recommendations, after presidential approval, will be presented, in a public hearing to the Board of Trustees for approval.
   2. Appointment of Student Fee Board
      
      1. The vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, a non-voting member, and the Student Association president, a voting member, will be co-chairpersons of the board. A genuine effort will be made to appoint students who represent the broad diversity of SLCC students.
      2. Membership will include the following voting members:
         
         1. one representative from the Budget Office;
         2. two full-time employees (appointed by the vice president for Student Affairs);
         3. the Salt Lake Community College Student Association (“SLCCSA”) president, who serves as co-chair;
         4. one currently enrolled SLCCSA senator or board member (appointed by the SLCCSA president);
         5. one currently enrolled student peer leader (appointed by the associate vice president for Student Success); and
         6. three currently enrolled students at-large (appointed by the vice president for Student Affairs).
      3. The Board’s recommendation will be determined by majority vote. In the case of a tie vote among voting members, the vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, who is typically a non-voting member, will cast a vote.
         
         1. When voting on a recommendation, at least four of the seven student board members must be present and vote at the meeting to ensure adequate student representation in the decision to recommend student fee amounts.
   3. Authority of the Student Fee Board
      
      1. The student fee board will make annual recommendations to the executive cabinet regarding the amount and allocation of student fees.
      2. The president will affirm or decline the recommendations that will be forwarded to the board of trustees and Utah State Board of Higher Education for review and action.
      3. Capital Facilities Fees
         The student fee board may approve new capital facilities fees and propose repurposing existing fees to renovate or replace previously approved facilities, which do not expand the facility’s footprint and do not exceed $6,000,000. Fee proposals outside this scope must be presented to the general student body for vote.
      4. Process for Requesting New Fees
         
         1. Associate vice presidents, deans, and other positions reporting directly to a cabinet member may request consideration for a new student fee during the student fee board meetings. Any new request must be submitted to the vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management by December 1 and be supported by demonstrated need, clear statements describing the fee purpose, and a detailed and sound budgetary plan.
         2. The student fee board will hear new requests during regularly scheduled board meetings in the spring semester.
      5. Process for Reviewing Current Fees
         
         1. Any college department currently receiving fees must present its fee utilization to the student fee board annually for review. The presentation will include:
            
            1. a detailed budget from the previous year demonstrating how the fee was used and the adequacy of the fee in accomplishing the stated objective;
            2. a detailed budget of the current fiscal year’s usage of the fee and anticipated expenditures; and
            3. a proposal for the subsequent year.
         2. Departments may request to maintain their fee, decrease their fee, or increase their fee.
         3. Supporting documentation must include a budgetary plan demonstrating how the proposed fee will be utilized.
         4. If the carry forward amount exceeds 10% of the total allocation to the area, departments must provide written justifications for maintaining the carry forward amount and the written plan is subject to Trustees’ approval. Departments may accumulate fund balances for large expenditures or reserves needing multi-year revenues only if they are planned, budgeted, and preapproved via the student fees process.
      6. Process for Determining Student Fee Recommendations
         
         1. Once all new or currently funded departments have presented their proposals, the student fee board members will deliberate.
         2. Student fee board members shall consider the following information in their deliberations:
            
            1. the impact of the proposed fee on students;
            2. the level of fund balance currently available to the department;
            3. Review of institutional enrollment projections and enrollment impact on general student fee revenue, examining whether each general student fee may be proportionally adjusted with enrollment change.
            4. the level of student involvement in the department and/or the scope of impact the fee will have on the student experience;
            5. the effective stewardship and appropriate monitoring of the fee by the requesting department; and
            6. data which supports the fee usage.
            7. The student fee board will “hold harmless” any state mandated annual salary, wage, and associated benefits increases by automatically increasing the student fee by the projected amount (%) anticipated at the time of deliberations.
         3. In cases where the student fee board recommends a fee increase that exceeds the percentage of the proposed tuition increase, a letter of support from the SLCCSA president must accompany the request.
         4. Recommendations will be sent in written form to the college president for review by executive cabinet.
         5. The SLCCSA President or designee will attend the annual Truth in Tuition hearing, take notes of student issues and questions raised, and provide a summary of those comments to the institution’s board of trustees.
      7. Five Year Comprehensive Review
         The general student fee advisory board and the board of trustees shall comprehensively review all general student fees and determine whether each fee should be retained, transitioned to tuition or state appropriations or repealed.

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Date of last executive cabinet review: November 5, 2024

The originator of this policy and procedure is the vice president for Student Affairs. Questions regarding this policy and procedure may be directed to the originator by calling 801-957-4284.