The Student Government Association has made a resolution to increase student service fees by $75, resulting in a now $200 student service fee.
The fee increase was discussed and approved by the Board of Trustees.
This now allows SGA to have roughly a $500,000 initiative fund to only be used for large-scale initiatives to improve the quality of life on campus.
“This is a major step in the right direction for our student experience,” said Jace Petrowski, president of SGA.
He said that SGA is excited to start projects on campus in the spring when they receive their first round of funding.
Some of the things they will work on include adding lights on the intramural fields, supplementing funding toward esports, adding solar chargers on campus and replacing the equipment in the Clemente Center.
“We can now do all the things we couldn’t have done previously because of how low our student fees were,” Petrowski said.
With this initiative fund increase, the money cannot be used without senate approval.
Petrowski explained that Bino Campanini, the senior vice president of Student Life and Alumni Affairs, would essentially have to present any project Campanini wants to use the money for to the senate.
Petrowski also said that Florida Tech’s student service fee is low compared to other schools such as Nova Southeastern University, whose student service fees are currently $500 a semester.
Another service SGA is working on is a bike station with an outside company. SGA announced during their scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 6 that the bike rental program is no longer available due to a number of bikes being stolen.
They stated that they are looking into more feasible ways to provide benefits to students.
Extending library hours is another topic of concern that the SGA senate committee is looking into after hearing many complaints from students.
A Giving Tree fundraising event will be hosted by SGA on Friday, Dec. 6 from 3-5 p.m.
Furthermore, a website will be available for donations for the event, which aims to raise funds for the Orlando Toys-For-Tots charity program.
In addition, this year’s Day of Giving will involve all Student Life organizations.
Any club or organization may partake in different challenges that are related to the theme “superpower” in order to raise funds and earn points.
The winners will receive a $200 VISA gift card.
During the senate meeting, Marc Kanneh, a senior from Trinidad and Tobago, was nominated as the new justice of SGA.
Before the nomination, Kanneh gave a speech about his past experience as a justice and ensured that he will support the offices.
“I would say it is challenging to run a government, specifically the judicial branch,” Kanneh said. “There is really no playbook on how to do this, but I hope my past experience as a justice back in 2017 and 2018 will help me support and represent the offices of SGA.”