One of the expenses that all students pay to Weber State University are student fees. These fees are a separate expense from tuition, but they still show up on the tuition payment portal. Student fees typically go toward departments, activities and events that are geared towards the students at WSU.

Brett Perozzi, vice president of Student Affairs, described the funding that goes into student fees as “extra,” rather than “instructional or curricular.”

Student fees are not part of tuition and don’t go toward departments that are academic-based, but instead the departments designed to improve students’ experience at WSU.

According to a table from the Department of Student Affairs, departments like athletics, Campus Recreation, the Counseling and Psychological Services Center and many more use student fees.

Daniel Kilcrease, executive director of student affairs, said each department gets a base amount each year and can come back each year to ask for additional funding.

Students are not excluded in the process when the university asks for additional funding or decides where those student fees are going. Students and faculty members work together to decide where the funds are most needed. Students are involved in the process through the Student Fee Recommendation Committee.

Kilcrease said the SFRC is comprised of the WSU Student Association student body president and executive vice president, 10 students and two faculty members. The students receive training on how the process works and how to accomplish the tasks without bias.

The SFRC decides where the student fees should go for the year. Students are involved in the process and have a voice on where the money is going.

Maren Dawson, WSUSA executive vice president, said each student of the SFRC is assigned a department to learn everything about that department’s funding requests and whether or not providing funding would be beneficial to WSU students. They come back and report their findings to the SFRC. The departments also come and present their requests. SFRC then decides how the funds should be distributed.

Perozzi said he and Kilcrease are part of the process in making sure the SFRC has the correct facts and statistics so they can make a decision based on the correct information.

Applications for the SFRC are open and can be found on the Student Affairs webpage. Any student can apply. The deadline is Sept. 30 by 4 p.m.

“Be involved. If you have an opportunity to have your voice in the discussion, you might as well try to be there,” Dawson said.