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The mandatory Services and Activities fees will rise in the 2014-2015 academic year by 4 percent.

The Services and Activities Fee Committee met Thursday night to discuss how funds will be allocated for the coming year. After five hours of budget deliberations the committee voted to increase the fee by 4 percent, which translates to $21 per year per student. The Services and Activities fees budget goes to a multitude of student groups including the CUB, ASWSU, SEB, and University Recreation.

ASWSU President Taylor Hennessey said the increase was necessary if the university is going to avoid a de-evolution of services. Hennessey also said Services and Activities fee increases are not common.

“Last year was the first CPI (Consumer Price Index) increase since 2008,” Hennessey said.

The second consecutive year of frozen tuition was cited a number of times during deliberations as a reason a Services and Activities fees increase would still be manageable for students.

A larger increase in Services and Activities fees could have been helpful to many organizations, but the board wasn’t ready to approve anything more, Hennessey said.

“Four is a good number for this year,” Hennessey said. “I think the students will respect that.”  

Most registered student organizations didn’t receive the budget increases they requested, but a number should receive one-time allocations.

“There were an unusual number of one-time requests,” said Joan King, WSU associate vice president and chief university budget officer.

One-time allocations are easier to grant because the drain on the budget is limited to one year, King said.

The major one-time allocations this year included new lights for Rogers Field, a new boat for the crew team, and a new car for Women’s Transit, King said.

Although some board members had difficulty approving certain motions out of consideration for their constituents, they still left deliberations reasonably content.

“Overall we’re doing the best we can with what we have,” GPSA President Nathan Neale said. “We’re placing the money the best way we can.”

The budget will go to President Elson S. Floyd and then to the Board of Regents for further approval by May.