SGA to SU administrators: Numbers don’t add up

In a letter sent by the Office of the Comptroller on March 7, the budget of the Student Government Association is “projected to fall short of a budgeted revenue by $13,545.48,” based on registration income.
While Southern University is accustomed to significant decreases in enrollment during spring semesters, the revised budget could directly affect student activities, such as the impending SpringFest.
“Imagine your father gives you money for 50 of your friends to go out to eat for dinner. He gives you this big stack of money in an envelope. Only 25 of your friends show up. When you get home, what is your father expecting?” said SGA President Carey Ash. “That’s where we are today. Southern University bases its budget by the amount of students it’s going to have. In that projected amount, they give the Student Government a set amount that it’s supposed to have. The problem here is enrollment-enrollment is a crisis situation. Recruiting, retaining and graduating are a crucial situation.”
Retention rates have fluctuated from 60.7 in 2000-2001 to 67.5 in the 2005-2006 school year.
In an e-mail sent to the executive board by Lynn Dickerson, interim vice-chancellor for student affairs, in July 2007, the projected enrollment rates for the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semesters were 6,930 and 6,310 respectively.
As of March 27, the Office of Planning, Assessment and Institutional Research (PAIR) released unofficial numbers of 6,974 and 6,353 for the fall and spring semesters, reflecting a slight increase from the original projected figures.
Mathematically, the projected figures estimate a drop of 664 from fall to spring, while the actual numbers reflect a 594 difference between the two, giving the projected figures 70 students more in the allocated budget.
Which makes one wonder: with current figures exceeding projected amounts, why are thousands of dollars being taken away from the students?
“Well, the university is nothing without the students,” said Jamall Fletcher, a senior physical education major from Labadieville. “It’s (the money) for the students and the administration is basically saying they don’t care.”
“The SGA budget, our budget is based purely on the numbers of enrollment,” said Ash.
“The students we have, the larger the budget, the more things we can do, the more we can provide. We need to understand that $13,000 is a lot of money. $13,000 is a comedy show. The students need to understand that we can no longer say ‘I want Chris Brown, or I want Beyonce to come to concerts.’ These artists, at base, are $100,000 to show up.”
The issue, according to Ash, is that Southern is losing students once they are enrolled into the university. Across the board, in and out of state students are leaving and attending competing institutions, making the recruiting and retention processes a number one budgeting priority.
SGA has ignited a parish wide pep rally of sorts to make the Baton Rouge campus more appealing to eighth, 10th, and eleventh-graders.
“By going after every eighth, 10th and eleventh-grader, you get three opportunities to recruit a student,” said Ash. “This budget crisis should be a wake-up call for the university. Every student pays into this government, and the lack of enrollment signals a change at Southern University, and as we know, all change is not good. We’re trying to retain, we’re trying to recruit, we’re trying to maintain.
“This should also be a wake-up call to students that we should care about more than just Homecoming and Spring Fest.”
Chelsea Washington, a sophomore accounting major from Lake Charles agrees with Fletcher’s sentiments.
“It’s very unfortunate that the students will suffer and not be able to enjoy their Spring Fest festivities because of the low retention rates and lack of effective recruiting.”
Currently, the school is searching for a chancellor; something Ash said also is affected by the budget cuts.
“Whoever he or she may be, the budget cuts will continue to affect the school for the next five to seven years at least,” he said.
“We say this all the time in this administration, and it may be cliche: there are no problems, only hard to find solutions.”
At press time, Lynn Dickerson was unavailable for comment, as was the interim chancellor, Margaret Ambrose.