Fee Transparency Project

Present: Marshall, Vir, Trey, Cheryl, Angelina, Mel, Laila, Lyra, Arielle, Nicholas, Aims, John, Lisa, Lucy

[3:30 - 3:33] Welcome and Introductions
1. Members' introductions: Name, Pronouns, Year, Major, and Space.
2. Order: Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Kresge, Porter, Oakes, RCC, C9, JRL, Graduate Students, SAB, Provost, SUA, Lisa, Sezona, Lucy
[3:33 - 3:35] Approval of the Agenda and Minutes
1. Approval of Agenda
2. Approval of April 21, 2026 Minutes
3. Passed on unanimous consent
[3:35 - 3:40] Public Comment
[3:40 - 3:45] Announcements
1. Absentee comment form
  1. Sofia asks about outreach for the student fee summit. Mel will share updates during the vice chair report.
2. Campus Elections Announcement
  1. There are two referendum moving forward to the ballot; basic needs and Learning Support Services.
3. Stoles: Update on costs for stoles and embroidery
  1. Purchase of 20 Stoles = $300
  2. Embroidery = ~$100 each (estimate based on other orders in Cruz Buy)
  3. Lucy will cover these costs for the graduates.
SFAC Chair/Vice-Chair Reports
1. Chair
  1. Worked on website changes/fee transparency proposal
  2. See agenda below.
2. Vice-Chair
  1. Happy Week 5
  2. Continuing to work on the Student Fee Summit
  3. The next committee meeting is this Friday.
Subcommittee Reports
1. Audit
  1. Report will be given later in the agenda
2. Outreach
  1. Continuing Student Fee Summit Planning (Monday May 11th 11am-3pm)
    1. Outreach committee this Friday 11 am-12:00 pm at Iveta Cafe in the Quarry
  2. Emails sent to Hermanos de UCSC // Hermanas Unidas // Fruitcake Magazine //
[3:45 - 4:05] Discussion/Vote: TAPS: Discussion on Measure 73 Recommendation
1. Background: At the February 23rd SFAC meeting, Executive Director of TAPS, Dan Henderson visited with SFAC for the annual presentation that is required by Measure 73. Measure 73 states that each winter quarter, TAPS will present information to SFAC (ridership data, budget, etc.). After this presentation, the SFAC developed a recommendation for the chancellor related to whether the fee escalation that was voted in by students in Measure 73 should be implemented for the following year. For 2026-2027, the fee increase would be $3.00 per student per quarter, or a total of $9.00.
2. Summary: Finalizing goals we want TAPS to meet from last meeting's discussions. Previous goals will be amended based on responses from the Director of TAPS. These goals are intended to be finalized to give enough time to discuss with TAPS. Vote will be on approving the proposed goals and allowing SFAC leadership to start discussions with TAPS.
3. Items:
4. Discussion
  1. The group discusses the metrics to add into the letter and makes edits in real time. Discussion regarding goal #1 and whether the technology exists to make this goal achievable.
  2. Discussion regarding whether SFACs purview includes the Metro services. The response is no, but it was discussed regarding whether we could add recommendations that could be brought to the TAPS Metro Board.
  3. There was extensive discussion regarding edits to the goal related to the Disability Van Services (DVS).
5. Vote: Final Letter to Executive Director Dan Henderson
  1. The letter is adopted by consensus.
  2. [as the meeting was wrapping up, the item was re-open for discussion, and there was unanimous approval to share a copy of the letter with the Chancellor and ask for feedback prior to finalizing and issuing it to Dan Henderson. Lucy will take care of this outreach].
[4:05 - 4:30] Making fee referenda more accessible
1. Summary: This is a time to go over old fee referenda, do research on old fees, and design how it could look like on an SFAC subpage. Most of this will be working individually on gathering information and designing how it would look on the website.
2. Items:
  1. sfac.ucsc.edu
3. Working session
  1. Marshall explains that in leadership team we discussed making the SFAC website a more useful tool for students wanting to learn about student fees.
  2. Marshall will assign the fees to members of the committee, create a short paragraph explaining the fee. Mel says think about it like an instagram post.
[4:30 - 4:40] Audit Committee Discussion
1. Summary: Vir will lead a discussion about current Audit Committee projects
2. Vir explains that the audit committee has been operational this year. There are two governing policies related to student fees - PACAOS 80, and the Student Services Fees UC Policy. The Audit Committee has been engaged in review of three departments this year to explore the appropriateness of how SSF is being used. The committee has been engaged in educational efforts like reading articles about the audit process.
3. Please provide feedback on the reports. Please review the reports, ask questions, etc.
4. Items:
  1. Child Care Services
    1. There are a lot of unmet need related to Child Care.
    2. There are misconceptions about the services.
    3. Recommendations include creating more opportunities for feedback to the program, and analysis of unmet needs. Recommendation for more outreach to students about the program.
  2. Graduate Studies
    1. Graduate Studies is in a precarious situation given their dependence on Iveta revenue to the Graduate Student Commons.
    2. The SFAC funded programs are going well and proceeding as intended. Going forward, they have may to cut
    3. Recommendation: don’t use SSF on research trips for graduate students.
  3. Educational Opportunity Program
    1. The Regents Policy says that EOP shouldn’t be funded fully by SSF.
    2. The committee met with Executive Director Lenora Willis.
    3. They use SSF for textbook lending, graduate school preparation. The funds are being used as a supplement.
    4. EOP services support special populations like undocumented students.
    5. SSF is used primarily on staff salaries.
5. Results of these audits are low, medium, high. Child care seemed a bit more troubling, EOP was a medium, and EOP had few findings.
6. Lucy recommends sharing these reports when they are finished with Akirah and other principal officers.
7. Lucy suggests that we can invite the Campus Auditor to do some training for this group.
8. Aims recommends that these reports also be shared with the Council of Provosts, as the information is so helpful to understanding student needs, especially related to how Provosts invest the college endowment funds. Aims suggests that SFAC and SUA request to present at Provost meeting. Contact Kim Lau, Council of Provosts Chair to request time on the agenda. Please copy Aims.
9. Thank you to the audit subcommittee!
10. The next three groups for review will be: Plant Services, Career Center, and Biomolecular Engineering.
[4:40 - 5:00] Funding Call - Final Deliberations - Tabled to next week. Lucy will follow up with groups about outstanding items.
1. Summary: Presentations on final funding call summary and allocations. Discussion on how to manage under/overallocations and for everyone to give final comments.
2. Items:
  1. Link to the master spreadsheet
  2. Outstanding items to discuss
    1. Proposal that were reviewed by Cheryl’s group that are in Trey’s group’s bucket (#26, #30, #36, #37, #40, #41)
    2. Dia de los Muertos, #21
[5:00] Adjournment

Upcoming Guests/Topics:

Update on Seismic and Life Safety Fee (Lisa)
Update on Return to Aid (Director of Financial Aid and Scholarship Office)
Tour of Kresge College Renovation Project: May 12th @ 3:30 (Meet at Kresge by parking lot 143/145, closest to R12 and R13). Must wear pants, and closed toe, hard toe shoes. Tennis shoes are ok, but hiking boots are better).
1. Media Day! Dress Up for photos.

Meeting and Committee Member Resources:

SFAC Roster
Orientation Materials
Agendas and Minutes
Tracking Sheet for Campus Based Fees ongoing discussion
Google Folder
Summer 26 Fee Levels