I Wrote Two...And Forgot

Oh, yeah...I wrote two pieces for my most recent newspaper issue...lol here is the second one.

Many students are involved and active in one or more of the organizations offered at TJC. But most are not aware of the process by which these organizations are financed and supported. 

The Student Services Fee Advisory Committee, also known as S.S.F.A.C, handles this process. 

"The purpose of the Student Services Fee Advisory Committee is to review the type, amount, and expenditure of student services fees and to recommend the amount to be allocated for the next academic year," states the S.S.F.A.C constitution.

The student life fee is applied to each student's tuition and is two dollars for every credit hour with a $26 cap. The student life fee collected for the spring was $199,366.  The amount collected for the fall was $219,833 for a total amount collected of $419,199, according to Sarah Van Cleef, interim vice president of Business Affairs.

The committee is currently made up of nine students and one TJC faculty member. There has been a recommendation to change the committee to eight students and two faculty members in order to add consistency to the process. 

"I think it will help having the two faculty members because I am really the only person, and now Dr. Moore, who knows how things are ran . . . students come and go," said Regina Williams, administrative assistant of Student Affairs. 

As of right now, the 10 members are shown the projected budget for the fall and spring semesters, and then approve the amount of money that is deducted from the total to be used towards two concerts, parent's weekends, the leadership banquet and leadership retreats. 

"The intent of taking that money off the top is to make sure that we fulfill our three promises," said Johnny Moore, TJC's new vice president of Student Affairs. 

Once this approval is made, the committee listens to and reviews presentations and proposals made by each organization that wishes to request money. It is then that the S.S.F.A.C committee delegates and decides on how much money each recognized organization will receive.
According to the S.S.F.A.C. constitution, the committee looks at what the organization wants to do, why they want to do it, for whom they plan to do it and what the results will be.

For the upcoming fall semester, changes to the S.S.F.A.C constitution and process may take place. Some students are still critical of the fact that the administration is still setting money aside instead of making presentations to the student committee. Since Moore has filled the position of Vice President of Student Affairs, and though he has not yet had a chance to fully participate in TJC's S.S.F.A.C. process, he will be looking into tweaking the process. 

"I think overall the process is great I just think the process needs a little tweaking, and we will tweak," said Moore. "I can't tell you exactly what we are going to do at this point because I want to make sure that the decision that is made is an appropriate decision for all that is involved."

For any more information regarding S.S.F.A.C or Student Affairs at TJC contact the Student Services office at (903) 510-2261.


Published 4/16/2010