Friday, January 23, 1998
Anderson School pays overlooked student fees
GSA: Association receives $35,000; college had no way to
recompense union
By Michael Weiner
Daily Bruin Contributor
Imagine having an extra $35,000 and not knowing about it.
This seemed to be the case from 1993 until last fall when
students in two of the Anderson Graduate School of Management’s
graduate programs failed to pay their mandatory Graduate Student
Association (GSA) fees.
The failure to pay, however, turned out to be nothing more than
a mistake.
Students in these programs – Executive Master of Business
Administration (EMBA) and Fully Employed Master of Business
Administration (FEMBA) – pay their fees directly to the school,
according to Bill Broesamle, director of the two programs.
"These students don’t pay the ordinary registration fee,"
Broesamle said.
"We pay (service fees) for the students based on our agreements
for the basic service providers on campus," he continued.
Before last fall, there was no mechanism for the Anderson School
to pay ASUCLA the mandatory $5.50 per quarter graduate student
government fee, so the fee had not been paid in recent years.
The Anderson School thought that the GSA fee was paid through
the Registrar’s Office, like the other student service fees for the
school, such as the fee for the university ombuds office.
"I think it was just a snafu. I just became aware of it this
year," Broesamle said.
The Anderson School owed GSA a total of $35,722.50, which was
paid last fall.
This is a substantial amount of money for GSA, currently
suffering from financial woes. GSA has been unable to raise its
fees consistent with inflation over the last several years,
according to ASUCLA Student Union and Student Support Services
Director Jerry Mann.
"The graduate students haven’t had a fee increase in over 10
years," Mann said. GSA has not been able to get the necessary
approval to raise fees.
The GSA Central Office will receive $26,000, with $6,000 going
to management fees and $3,000 to the University of California
Students Association.
At the GSA Forum meeting next Wednesday, the association will
decide what to do with the additional funds. GSA President Andrew
Westall hopes to spend most of the money on computers and election
preparations.
Although the funds will help GSA, they are not enough, according
to Westall. "It’s basically a short term solution," he said.
"We need to get the GSA fee increased to $10 a quarter," he
continued. Undergraduate student fees are $18 a quarter.
According to Mann, the students’ association realized that money
was owed when GSA’s budget was less than it should have been.
"The amount of money we were off equated to the enrollment of
the FEMBA and EMBA programs," Mann said.
Mann also said that ASUCLA did not notice the fee discrepancy
earlier because students and fees are not in a one-to-one ratio.
The amount of fees paid does not necessarily relate directly to the
amount of students because of refunds and students dropping
out.
"When you don’t think to look for something, you don’t look for
it," Mann said. "I never thought to question that they weren’t
paying their fees."
According to Broesamle, the EMBA program is meant for corporate
executives seeking master of business administration degrees. The
program concentrates on general management skills. The FEMBA
program is meant for business people just beginning their careers.
Both programs are part time.
There are currently similar programs in the Schools of Education
and Public Health, in which tuition is paid directly to the
graduate school and the school pays the university service
fees.
Mann wants to see a campus-wide policy on paying service and
association fees so problems like this can be avoided in the
future.
"I have a concern that we may see more programs like this
sprouting up on campus," Mann said.