The University of Rhode Island student senate passed a referendum on an increase to the Student Activity Tax in a March 4 vote.
After being made aware by the Club Sports and Intramural Council and the Office of Student Involvement of the need to increase the Student Activity Tax, the senate drafted a referendum that would increase the tax by $10 per student, according to student senate Speaker of Assembly Cole Rinne.
Raising the amount from $42 to $52, the increase would give club sports more flexibility with funding, according to Rinne.
“Club sports get more than half their funding from fundraising,” Rinne said. “They raise it for themselves. There’s been a lot more clubs that have been introduced. They have more members in them going to events like regionals and stuff like that and they just don’t have enough money to support it.”
The increase itself comes directly out of students’ pockets, according to Rinne. The tax is on student’s term bills, visible in the bill breakdown. Passing this tax would mean that each student would be paying $10 more per semester.
“[Club sports] just want a tiny bit more money,” Rinne said. “It’s obviously a big process to increase tuition and stuff like that because that’s added on to everybody’s belt. [Club sports] just wants more support, but everybody wants to know from the student body if that’s something that people want to do.”
The referendum was drafted to gauge student body interest, according to Rinne. The opinion of the student body is the last question mark left in passing the bill.
“It’s kind of just a feeler,” Rinne said. “The consensus in club sports is there’s never enough money for this. They have all this amazing stuff that they do and represent the university with, but they just don’t have enough, and they have to make cuts or not allow everybody to go to events.”
Club sports are very excited to see the bill come through, according to the Vice Chair of Student Organizations Committee fourth-year Tyler Dickson. As a member of the club golf team, Dickson is supportive of the bill.
“They’re ecstatic about this,” Dickson said. “They’re trying to get involved in more tournaments, but it’s tough because green’s fees are expensive. […] Speaking for those guys, they’re super stoked about it.”
Transparent communication is key in this situation, according to the senate Student Organization’s Committee Chair Jake Milner. For the student body to agree, the increase in the tax needs to be clearly communicated.
“I think the major point for me is that it needs to be clearly communicated that the tuition will go up,” Milner said. “Even by the smallest margin, everybody deserves to know. […] To be able to control that and to have the opportunity to say ‘That doesn’t work for me financially.’ or ‘I don’t see the point of that.’ I think that’s great.”
The referendum is slated to be put on the ballot for the student senate elections taking place until Thursday, where the entire student body will be able to vote through URI Involved or in support or against the increase.
If approved, the matter will then be brought to the URI Board of Trustees who have the final say about any increase on the Student Activity Tax.
