DoIT budget carryover causes controversy

An unallocated budget estimated at $1,006,825 remains in DoIT's funds.

By Luke Udstuen

Published Sept. 4, 2009

The unallocated budget of Division of Information Technology for last fiscal year was estimated to be $1,006,825, making up 11.3 percent of its total funds, as stated by previous Maneater articles.

At the Board of Curators meeting in April, the issue of decreasing DoIT fees was briefly discussed, though no action was taken as the issue was only recently brought up, MSA spokesman Tim Noce said.

All students at MU pay an Information and Technology fee of $12.20 per credit hour. This fee is constant throughout all universities in the UM system.

"We have about twice as many students as other campuses — and per student we don't need that much money," Noce said.

Because of the difference in enrollment, MU receives a disproportionate amount of money when compared with smaller universities in the system.

"What Rolla needs isn't necessarily what we need as a fee, or what UMKC needs as a fee," Noce said.

Other universities outside the UM system have their own method of collecting fees for their Information Technology programs.

"Iowa State University charges a computer fee to all of its students with students in selected colleges or majors paying a higher computer fee," Iowa State's Assistant Registrar Carolyn Nading said. "The fee pays for computer labs and networks around campus."

All full-time students at Iowa State are charged a base computer fee of $115 per semester, Nading said. Full-time students in the College of Business are charged $135 per semester, and the fee for students within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering jumps to $223 per semester.

"Each college has a committee of students and faculties that meets to discuss allocated fees," Nading said. "They are not responsible for how much money they receive, only how to spend the money after it is given to them."

Noce said MU has standing committees who make recommendations to the Board of Curators.

"It didn't go through then (in the April 2009 meeting) because the ideas surrounding (the fee) had never before been brought up," Noce said. "Most of what students get is hearsay. It's in the process now."

Solutions to the IT fee issue at MU are still being discussed.

"A task force was created for teaching and learning technologies, on how to invest that (last year's carryover), and the rest of the ITF money. The task force will have a recommendation at the next meeting," said Kevin Bailey, director of Customer Service and Support within the division.

Bailey said the task force committee is working on the problems, but it doesn't have the power to make the final decision.

"We have the committee," Bailey said. "They make recommendations to the provost as to how the money should be spent."

The IT fee will likely be discussed at the next meeting on Sept. 21, Noce and Bailey said.

"There's a student voice there, and it just has to be heard," Noce said. "Especially with the IT committee, the student voice is only beginning to be heard. Now that's happening; strides are happening."