IU Outdoor Adventures could lose funding

IU Outdoor Adventures, a program supervised by the Indiana Memorial Union, might not receive funding from student tuition mandates beginning next semester following recommendations by the Committee for Fee Review 2012.

Assuming the IU Board of Trustees follows the Committee for Fee Review’s recommendation, IUOA will eliminate all student discounts offered for programs and services, including a 100 percent discount on student leadership training and
development. 

IUOA offers trips throughout the United States, outdoor leadership training and development and a retail store featuring a bouldering wall. Since moving locations from the IMU to Eigenmann Hall in 2010, total participation in IUOA programs and services has roughly tripled to 9,775 total participants in 2012, IUOA officials said.

“We would not have been surprised if there had been a small reduction, but we were all very surprised to see it go to zero,” said Dustin Smucker, leisure programs coordinator for IUOA.

Each IU student enrolled in more than three credit hours pays $92.74 a semester in mandatory activity fees.

For the past two academic years, IUOA has received 64 cents per student as a part of the activity fee all IU students pay. During the 2012 fiscal year, the program received $52,956 from these fees. Following the Committee for Fee Reviews’ recommendation, IUOA is adjusting to the very likely possibility that this part of its budget will be
eliminated.

“I was really surprised, because two years ago Outdoor Adventures received an increase,” said Rob Meyer, assistant director for IMU activities and events and IUOA supervisor. “They supported what Outdoor Adventures does, and they see the value in what is happening over there. It seemed as if they felt we were not transparent and then questioned whether or not we have sound financial planning and budgetary planning.”

The process of determining mandatory fee rates is prepared by the Committee for Fee Review, an organization composed of a group of seven IU students and co-chaired by the president of the IU Student Association and Graduate and Professional Student Organization.

Last fall, group members listened and analyzed budget proposals from any student organization that received or would like to receive funding from mandatory fees.

“Obviously, funding is very tight and we were very cognizant of the fact that student tuition is a hot topic right now, and that we had to be extra conscientious of the funding we were allocating,” said Kyle Straub, IUSA president and committee member. “It was a difficult process.”

Formal recommendations made by the committee are sent to the dean of students, provost, President Michael McRobbie and the IU Board of Trustees, who create IU’s budget every two years.

“In general, the Board of Trustees, where they can, do seem to follow the recommendations of the committee,” Carol McCord, associate dean of students and adviser for the 2012 Committee for Fee Review, said. “They take their consideration very seriously and don’t overturn it unless there is a need to do so.”

IUOA received a letter from the committee Jan. 18, detailing its recommendation to reduce funding from 64 cents per student to $0. The letter emphasized the committee was “again disappointed by the continued lack of responsiveness of IU Outdoor Adventures to the recommendations of the past two Committees for Fee Review for more careful financial management, increased financial transparency and more effective budgeting to ensure sustainable operations in the future.”

Straub did not comment specifically on the IUOA recommendation, but did reiterate the committee’s goal of taking a stricter approach to allocating funds to organizations that did not follow recommendations of past committees.

“Something that was apparent this year is that we can’t continue to make exceptions,” Straub said. “We have to hold all groups to the same standards. There have been several rounds of the committee where changes weren’t made based on recs but they still received funding. We want to make sure all these units are being held to the same standards.”

Because IUOA receives an annual subsidy from the IMU, the committee said it felt IUOA did not clarify how much money the IMU could possibly provide for IUOA, explaining that “without this information, the Committee (of Fee Reviews) cannot determine whether IUOA actually needs the funding from the Mandatory Student Fees, or if all of this funding may be continuously augmented by the Indiana Memorial Union.”

Smucker and Meyer said they understand the difficulty of the committee’s task, but that IUOA cannot rely solely on IMU funding without significant budget adjustments.
The committee works very hard,” McCord said. “They’re very thoughtful in their work. To me it’s one of the very best examples of any university of student participation in a real meaningful way.”

Though IMU subsidy funding for IUOA has increased in recent years, Meyer said the expansion of the program and a $74,567 yearly rent IUOA pays Residential Programs and Services for its location in Eigenmann explains the upward trend in funding.

“They see that the subsidy for IUOA has increased over time, and what they don’t see is that Outdoor Adventures never paid rent when they had their space in the Union. Now they pay rent, which is why the subsidy from the Union went up,” Meyer said.

Smucker said in order for the elimination of student discounts to be an effective budgeting decision, total student participation will have to stay flat.

“We are hoping that this could make up for lost expenses assuming that our enrollment stays level,” Smucker said. “If we cut the discounts and enrollment goes down we haven’t covered those losses.”

Despite funding adjustments, Meyer said he is optimistic that IUOA will continue to thrive.

“The numbers of student participation has gone up and we’re expanding the course offerings to give more students opportunities,” Meyer said. “I’m optimistic because we’re trying to rework our proposal in two years and be more transparent with the data so they can see the value in what they cut.”