By Sadie Murphy

On Thursday, February 6, Student Activities sent out a flyer via email to invite students to the weekly meetings held on Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. in MCCC 315. This is currently the most accessible way to receive updates on the Board of Governors' Meetings and Meet and Confer sessions.Both meetings offer students valuable information on the operation of the college.

Reporting on the agenda of the February 13 meeting, SGA President Colton Ring said that the current college deficit is around $2.3 million. Among the discussed remedies were potential tuition increases, added fees, and fees to cover graduation ceremony expenses.

As of now, the potential tuition increases are being discussed by Glenville State College President Nelson and her cabinet. The SGA is working to be as open as possible, but currently there is insufficient information regarding exact prices. Right now, the goal is to make students aware and comfortable with the possible tuition increases for the betterment of the college.  Ring discussed the fact that tuition freezes impact our deficit.

In the upcoming semester, there will be an additional $120 activities fee to cover student admission to games, student life activities, and shuttle operation. To help balance out this additional fee, there will be cuts to departmental fees. Despite this, there will be an overall slight increase in fees for students and not all students will receive fee cuts since those fees are dependent on majors and classes taken.

In spite of the importance of tuition and fees, the hot topic of the day was the future of winter commencement.

Ring says, “Frequently, Dr. Nelson and her cabinet, along with the Board of Governors, say they find it very important to keep students in mind.” The minutes note, “we have spent $13,000 on all graduation ceremonies combined for a fiscal year. We collect around $8,000 from fees to cover these expenses. The college is left picking up the difference."

To combat this, President Ring asked the Senate their opinions on adding a fee of up to $20 dollars to the already existent $60 dollar fee to all graduates, despite of the season they choose to participant in commencement. If the winter commencement is cut, no additional fees will be applied. The motion was passed by SGA, though no further decision has been confirmed. Two students gave their opinions about the issuing during the meeting.

According to the SGA minutes, “Anna Childers stated that she is for having just a spring graduation because you will be able to walk with your entire class.” However, “Katelyn Miller mentioned that she potentially is [graduating in winter], and she would hate to have to come back in the spring so it would be worth having to find the extra money to cover the fee.”