AS One - University of California San Diego

Marshall College Student Activity Fee Referendum

Do you approve a $4.50 increase in the Thurgood Marshall College Student Activity Fee per undergraduate student per quarter effective Fall Quarter 2019 (for a total of $10.50 per quarter) to improve student events and traditions, increase financial aid for students, and provide services to the students of Thurgood Marshall College of the University of California, San Diego?

The current Thurgood Marshall College Student Activity Fee is $6.00 and 19.33% of that fee is allocated to financial aid. By approving this referendum, the Student Activity fee will increase to $10.50 and 29% of the total fee will be allocated to help meet the needs of financial aid of undergraduate students, in accordance with University policy. The Thurgood Marshall College Student Activity Fee increase will support the following:

Increase the amount of financial aid given to students by increasing the amount of the Student Activity Fee allocated to financial aid from $1.16 to $3.045.
Assist funding for traditional events across Marshall College such as Marshall palooza, Cultural Celebration, and Senior Week.
Fund resource centers, such as the Triton Food Pantry, and student initiatives to advocate for a larger portion of Marshall college students.
Open opportunity to plan larger scale events that appeal towards the Marshall student population, such as off-campus trips, concerts, and service projects.

If this referendum is approved and implemented, this will be the first fee increase in Thurgood Marshall College since 2006, when the fee was increased from $2 per student per quarter to $6 per student per quarter. The fee will follow annual California Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustments and will not be assessed during Summer Session. The fee increase will be effective Fall 2019 and no referendum to increase the Thurgood Marshall College Student Activity fee may be proposed until Fall 2022.

Pro Statement	Con Statement
Thurgood Marshall College has charged students $6.00 in activity fees since 2006, which is currently the lowest activity fee of all six colleges with Muir being the highest at $17.00. The activity fees have been utilized to fund projects and events geared specifically toward Marshall students, such as Marshallpalooza and Cultural Celebration, along with funding for other Marshall and campus wide student organizations in need of support. Prices have risen since 2006 due to inflation, resulting in Marshall being restricted from funding large events such as festivals and concerts with the current fee. In previous years, Thurgood Marshall Student Council was unable to help fund basic needs, our annual events like Cultural Celebration, and additional Sun God kits due to being low on money 2 quarters into the year. Marshalls traditional events were still held on campus, but the overall quality of these events for students were compromised due to the lack of funds. Increasing the fee to $10.50 will allow Thurgood Marshall College Student Council (TMCSC) to invest in improved, large-scale activities and events available for Marshall students to ultimately enhance the Marshall experience, all while still being among the lowest activity fees. This also gives Marshall the opportunity to expand its current organizations and facilitate the growth of new organizations that can further address student concerns. Previously 19.33% of the fee was distributed to financial aid, but now 29% of the fee will be invested in financial aid in order to help support students manage the costs of UCSD better. The fee will also adjust for inflation in order to survive future changes in the dollar. By voting YES, students will be able to have a better Marshall College experience.	Thurgood Marshall College has kept the activity fee to $6.00 for 13 years for a reason: to make the college experience affordable for Marshall students. By increasing the activity fee, this can create an additional financial strain for Marshall students in the midst of other increasing fees such as tuition and housing. The fee referendum will put Marshall from having the lowest activity fee to the fourth highest activity fee of all six colleges behind Muir, ERC, Sixth. Even though every Marshall student pays the activity fee during enrollment, not all events cater to the interests of every paying student. Thurgood Marshall College Student Council and student organizations are responsible for spending the collection of activity fees on programs and events on campus through the input of the student body; however, this input is not always fulfilled. Based on council's financial budget this year, Marshall has enough money from emergency reserves that has rolled over from the previous year. If there is leftover money in the budget at the end of the academic year, then these fees are not reimbursed back to paying students and are carried over to the spending budget for the next academic year. Marshall college also had rollover money that did not get spent last year by some of their organizations or members. Rather than getting more money, Thurgood Marshall College Student Council should allocate their money more effectively. Voting NO on the fee referendum will keep the current $6.00 activity fee in Marshall College and students will not pay more for going to college.
Rebuttal To Pro Statement	Rebuttal To Con Statement
Marshall College fees should be spent on Marshall college students and not be used for outside organizations when they could possibly get other sources of funding. There is a lot of discussion around having big events in Marshall college, but there is no guarantee that they will happen. The events stated in the pro section have occured still, despite being at a smaller scale. Having creative solutions like collaborating with other university organizations, will help address the problem of a limited budget. Money is not always the answer, and we should avoid increasing costs for students.	The money that has rolled over from previous years is mostly money set aside for emergency funding. Rollover is a special situation and will not be guaranteed money to occur for future years. If Warren's fee referendum passes we will only be higher than Revelle's activity fee and be the second lowest fee for all the colleges. TMCSC has made a better effort this year to be more accountable with the allocated money and has been able to get a lot of input through better surveys and data gathering techniques. This fee increase will lead to a better variety and small and big events for all our students.

Pro Statement

Con Statement

Thurgood Marshall College has charged students $6.00 in activity fees since 2006, which is currently the lowest activity fee of all six colleges with Muir being the highest at $17.00. The activity fees have been utilized to fund projects and events geared specifically toward Marshall students, such as Marshallpalooza and Cultural Celebration, along with funding for other Marshall and campus wide student organizations in need of support.

Prices have risen since 2006 due to inflation, resulting in Marshall being restricted from funding large events such as festivals and concerts with the current fee. In previous years, Thurgood Marshall Student Council was unable to help fund basic needs, our annual events like Cultural Celebration, and additional Sun God kits due to being low on money 2 quarters into the year. Marshalls traditional events were still held on campus, but the overall quality of these events for students were compromised due to the lack of funds.

Increasing the fee to $10.50 will allow Thurgood Marshall College Student Council (TMCSC) to invest in improved, large-scale activities and events available for Marshall students to ultimately enhance the Marshall experience, all while still being among the lowest activity fees. This also gives Marshall the opportunity to expand its current organizations and facilitate the growth of new organizations that can further address student concerns. Previously 19.33% of the fee was distributed to financial aid, but now 29% of the fee will be invested in financial aid in order to help support students manage the costs of UCSD better. The fee will also adjust for inflation in order to survive future changes in the dollar. By voting YES, students will be able to have a better Marshall College experience.

Thurgood Marshall College has kept the activity fee to $6.00 for 13 years for a reason: to make the college experience affordable for Marshall students. By increasing the activity fee, this can create an additional financial strain for Marshall students in the midst of other increasing fees such as tuition and housing. The fee referendum will put Marshall from having the lowest activity fee to the fourth highest activity fee of all six colleges behind Muir, ERC, Sixth.

Even though every Marshall student pays the activity fee during enrollment, not all events cater to the interests of every paying student. Thurgood Marshall College Student Council and student organizations are responsible for spending the collection of activity fees on programs and events on campus through the input of the student body; however, this input is not always fulfilled.

Based on council's financial budget this year, Marshall has enough money from emergency reserves that has rolled over from the previous year. If there is leftover money in the budget at the end of the academic year, then these fees are not reimbursed back to paying students and are carried over to the spending budget for the next academic year. Marshall college also had rollover money that did not get spent last year by some of their organizations or members. Rather than getting more money, Thurgood Marshall College Student Council should allocate their money more effectively. Voting NO on the fee referendum will keep the current $6.00 activity fee in Marshall College and students will not pay more for going to college.

Rebuttal To Pro Statement

Rebuttal To Con Statement

Marshall College fees should be spent on Marshall college students and not be used for outside organizations when they could possibly get other sources of funding.

There is a lot of discussion around having big events in Marshall college, but there is no guarantee that they will happen.

The events stated in the pro section have occured still, despite being at a smaller scale. Having creative solutions like collaborating with other university organizations, will help address the problem of a limited budget.

Money is not always the answer, and we should avoid increasing costs for students.

The money that has rolled over from previous years is mostly money set aside for emergency funding. Rollover is a special situation and will not be guaranteed money to occur for future years.

If Warren's fee referendum passes we will only be higher than Revelle's activity fee and be the second lowest fee for all the colleges.

TMCSC has made a better effort this year to be more accountable with the allocated money and has been able to get a lot of input through better surveys and data gathering techniques.

This fee increase will lead to a better variety and small and big events for all our students.