Present: Lorraine Acker, Eileen Daniel, Michael Harrison, Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall – Co-chair, Seth Johnston, Rachael Killion, Susan Lowey, Teresa Major, Logan Rath – Co-chair, Lisa Robusto-Mack, Rongkun Shen
Regrets: Qudus Bawa-Allah, Nicole Parkison
Guest: N/A
Welcome and Introductions
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall welcomed all back to the spring term and introduced Mr. Johnston as a new member of the committee. He replaces Mr. Dowe as the University’s Registrar.
November 8, 2024, Meeting Summary
Members were asked to review the meeting summary from the November 8, 2024, meeting. Any comments, edits or suggestions should be sent to Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall by February 14, 2025.
Updates to the Committee
- Hardship Waiver Process – Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall, Dr. Rath, and Ms. Major met to discuss opportunities for changing the Course Fee Financial Hardship Waiver MachForm. Ms. Maxwell has been consulted to assist with incorporating the suggested changes. Suggested changes include building logic into the process to limit the number of submissions that do not meet policy requirements. These changes are near finalization. The Committee will be updated as this progress continues.
- BB Fees – Proposed Rates – Hallenbeck-McPhall met with Dr. Acker, Dr. Kelly, and Mr. Harper to discuss strategies around distributing the possible $54 increase to Broad-Based Fees for FY25/26. Proposed rates were shared with the Committee, but the Committee was asked to treat this information as confidential until it is communicated to fee managers. It was re-iterated that the $54 is our best guess as to what a supported increase may look like, but all increases are subject to SUNY approval.
Dr. Acker brought up a discussion item around the number of presentations our fee managers are required to do. She has received feedback from the fee managers that this is a large ask from year to year. Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall agreed that this was a common concern. She stated that there will likely always be two presentations; one to JPBC and one to the student body, but perhaps there could be some efficiencies implemented in the years when we are required to host the full student fee forum. Mr. Rath brought up the idea of using Brightspace. He stated that presentations could be recorded and shared via this platform. There was support to look into this next year.
There was also Committee discussion surrounding the Technology Fee. This budget has been carrying a large balance, so it was questioned why they would need an increase. Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall explained that they are currently working on a project, which will spend down some of this balance. Any fee increase that they receive will help them maintain a positive operating balance, as well as continue on with project planning.
The Committee also discussed if students were required to have laptops and what happens if a student is economically challenged. Dr. Rath mentioned that BITS has a loaner program, which students can take advantage of. He also mentioned that there may be some financial aid options to help students with a need. Ms. Major brought up concern over EOP students. Mr. Rath is going to suggest that grants be pursued to assist with this. Ideally, the University would pursue grant opportunities through which EOP students can be given a laptop.
- JPBC – Broad-Based Fee Working Group – JPBC was charged with reviewing the sustainability around the Broad-Based Fee budgets. As such, a working group is being formed. This group is in its initial stages, and more information will be shared at an upcoming JPBC meeting. CBFRC’s role in this work is TBD.
- JPBC – Dates for Presentations – Broad-Based Fee presentations are scheduled on 03/27/25 for JPBC and 03/28/25 for the BSG Student Fee Forum. Committee members were asked to attend at least one of these meetings, as they will be asked at the 04/04/25 CBFRC meeting to vote to endorse or not endorse the presented budgets and fee changes.
- JPBC – Course Fee Feedback – The CBFRC feedback obtained and summarized from the Nursing course fee discussions was shared with the JPBC co-chairs. Discussion ensued and it was decided that these suggestions be incorporated into the discussions for Fall/Spring course fees. This would make the topic relevant at a University level versus wrongfully giving focus to a specific set of course fees.
- JPBC – DIFR/BSG/BASC – Presentations have been scheduled for the 04/24/25 JPBC meeting. CBFRC members are encouraged to attend, but not required.
- Pooled Offset – Changes Coming – SUNY has begun having routine meetings with SUBOA to discuss the upcoming pooled offset changes (what we think of as fringe). Currently, nothing is official, but it is thought that there will be a range of percentages that the campus can assess to IFR/SUTRA accounts (i.e. no longer one set rate for all SUNYs). Campuses will still have to hit a target with SUNY, but we will have more discretion in how we hit that target. All “fringe” will be assessed on non-student payroll expenses (no longer on revenue for the SUTRA fund). Changes will begin in FY25/26. This could have some positive impact on fee budgets, but this will have to be weighed against impacts on the University.
Course Fees – Summer 2025
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall announced that no summer 2025 course fee requests were received. There is no action required by the Committee. Ms. Killion shared that the fall/spring course fee requests are due March 26th and a reminder will be in the Daily Eagle. She encouraged Committee members to share this information with anyone who they believed may want a new or a change in a course fee.
Current Fee Assessment
Ms. Major was asked to present on the University’s current fee assessment structure. She prepared a chart to help facilitate this discussion. Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall reminded the Committee that part of its charge is to talk through fee assessment and make recommendations/revisions as we see fit given the current environment.
Ms. Major shared that fee assessment is done via Banner and is quite complex, and a bit outdated. She stated there are over 1,000 rules that must be updated each semester. This includes student level, program type (ex. OAP, exclusively online), course location, student residency, etc.. She pointed out that some programs have different tuition rates (i.e. MSW, DNP, MBA). There is a lot to track and information share is essential to the success of this process. If OSAA is not made aware of a change, then fee assessment will not be updated, and billing will be incorrect.
The chart that was shared shows current Broad-Based fees and the University’s assessment rules. Ms. Major walked the Committee through each fee on the chart and gave opportunity for feedback. Some highlights:
- A Gift to the Fund for Brockport – optional fee; includes $5 for commencement; once waived remains waived, until a student reinstates
- Athletic fee – not usage based (similar to school taxes)
- Career Services fee – no per credit rate (flat fee); must be full-time student
- Health Center fee – not charged to OAP students; flat fee for exclusively online students
- Student Rec fee – charged to all students
- Transportation fee – only assed to UG students
- Technology fee – removed double Tech fee for exclusively online a few years ago (COVID changed a lot of this need, as now students are fairly equal in their Tech needs)
The Committee then reviewed the populations for which each fee was not assessed.
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall posed two questions to the Committee: Are we comfortable with the current fee assessment rules and Do we have any recommendations for change?
- Dr. Daniel asked Ms. Major which fees receive the most negative feedback. She replied, Athletics receives the most feedback and then, Technology. In terms of the Technology fee, students feel their technology needs should be part of the services offered to them. The Career Services fee receives some pushback, but this one is easy to explain when her office tells them the ways in which this fee helps them (ex. Internships, future job opportunities, etc.).
Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall reiterated that we recently made some changes to the assessment rules for exclusively online programs. In the past, if any component of a student’s program took place on campus, they were not qualified for exclusively online status. The University has now made the decision to base this assessment on the SED coding of a program. If the program is registered as exclusively online, this is how fees for the program will be assessed. This is even true if for example, a student is registered in one of these programs, but taking an elective on campus. They will still qualify for the exclusively online fee assessment rules. Dr. Daniel added that the benefits of this switch outweighed the time and effort of trying to catch all of the exceptions with electives. This change was implemented in Fall 2024. Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall noted that we will want to watch trends in revenues to see if there is any large impact from these changes. Dr. Daniel pointed out that with the growth of online programs, any decrease in revenue may be offset by the increase in online enrollments.
The Committee supported the change to fee assessment for the exclusively online student population and had no recommendations for changing any other fee assessment rules at this time.
Next Meeting
- International insurance – the account balance and assessment criteria.
- CBFRC Membership Roster –
- Do we have the right individuals on the Committee? This hasn’t been revisited since inception of the committee.
Other Items from the Committee
None at this time.
Campus Based Fee Review Committee Action plan List
Committee Members: Lorraine Acker/Qudus Bawa-Allah/Eileen Daniel/ Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall/Michael Harrison/Seth Johnston/Rachael Killion/Susan Lowey/Teresa Major/Nicole Parkison/Logan Rath/Lisa Robusto-Mack/Rongkun Shen
Committee Roster
| Action | Responsible | Status | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Put a call out to GA/Tas for Graduate Student representative. | Mr. Harrison | Completed | N/A | N/A |
| Request BSG Treasurer to attend as Undergraduate Student representative | Dr. Acker | Completed | N/A | N/A |
ID Replacement Fee
| Action | Responsible | Status | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Follow up with Ms. Frosini and obtain more data. | Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall | Completed | N/A | N/A |
Nursing Course Fee Review
| Action | Responsible | Status | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review Nursing course fees | All | Completed | N/A | N/A |
2023-24 Annual Report
| Action | Responsible | Status | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create the 2023-24 Annual Report | Dr. Hallenbeck-McPhall | Completed | N/A | N/A |