CLA senior Karen Salazar is a self-described activist. In 2002 when the University of California faced severe budget cuts resulting in increases to student fees, she decided to join fellow students in a statewide protest campaign. “As a financial aid recipient, this was of particular relevance to me,” she says. But Salazar soon realized she needed to know more about the UC fee structure, so she applied and was appointed to the Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC), a student-majority committee that makes direct recommendations to the Chancellor on the use of the registration fee, student fees in general, and fee policy.
Now in her final year of a two-year term, Salazar is serving as chairperson of the SFAC committee, which is made up of four undergraduate students, four graduate students, three administrative representatives, one faculty representative, and an
 

ex-officio member of the Office of Academic Planning and Budget. “This committee is one of the few organizations on campus with shared governance, where students have direct input to decisions that affect our daily lives,” she explains.

Fee Review
SFAC members, appointed by student government leadership for either one or two-year terms, are expected to vigorously voice their views and concerns, even when they are contrary to the administration’s point of view. Members must demonstrate effective campus leadership, professionalism and a profound sense of responsibility to ensure the appropriate use of student fees. Salazar says, “There is a lot of information to digest, all relating to the registration fee-funded units, budgetary terms and organizational structures of both UCLA and UC.”
Each student’s registration fee of $713 per year partially funds a

 
wide variety of student and campus services, such as Fine Arts Productions; Cultural & Recreational Affairs; Childcare Services; Intercollegiate Athletics; Bruincorps; the Career Center; and Student Health Services, to name just a few.
In addition to the use of the registration fee, SFAC reviews the allocation of other student fees such as course materials fees and user fees, conducting a consistent and fair review process. For instance, if a campus department wants to implement or increase a course materials fee, its staff must submit a proposal to SFAC and adhere to strict guidelines to substantiate the need for the fee or its increase. According to Salazar, “We listen to presentations, ensure that charging students is a last recourse for departments, weigh the impacts of new fees on students with economic hardships, and ultimately decide whether students would benefit from that fee.”
 
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