Show W We Weve We've e ve Got Questions sti Who's Got Answers ers By Aaron Wendee Weight Cassie McElroy Sharon Ashley Reid r r 4 Contributing Writers What's going on here Where in inthe inthe inthe the world did all that come from Why'd they do that How do you explain this I DONT DON'T GET IT After a month of frustrating and nearly fruitless research my classmates and I have come to a conclusion Salt Lake Community College doesn't want students to know where or how they spend money Sure they'll give you a financial statement or two or tell you where you can go to get one and give a brief explanation of all the numbers but putting it all together is more difficult than a piece jigsaw puzzle with no big picture We started out with a few general gener gener- al questions and concerns about the c causes uses of increasing ever ver asing tuition costs and ended up with page after page of confused facts and befuddling figures that left us even more perplexed and concerned concerned con con- than when we started Weve We've got questions f y Why does the college colleg pa pay almost dollar for dollar as much for staff bookstore employees parking attendants janitors janitor etc as for faculty professors and andin in instructors In 2001 02 spent approximately approximately approximately 24 million on regular faculty and adjunct faculty wages and 23 million for staff and wage payroll Compared to other year two-year colleges in Utah faculty members are paid below average Faculty members are the hea heart and soul of the school as they provide the knowledge and instruction students stu- stu stu students st dents come here for yet their compensation is equal to the idle office workers and the prim parking parking parking park park- ing attendants Why bother grading grading grading grad grad- ing homework making lesson plans and teaching classes when you can make as much sitting in ina a parking booth y Why arent aren't semester fees based on credit hour enrollment Students taking one class pay as much as students with 15 credit hours Regardless of class loads all students are assessed in various fees per semester Never mind that the student with only one class uses the campus medical services recreation facilities and computer labs far farless farless farless less than the student with 18 12 credits y Why isn't the school more specific specific specific on their financial reports Several of the reports we were given or looked up on internet sites included vague income and expense categories One such document Summary of Current Funds listed million in appropriated total revenue and an additional million in other current funds total rev rev- In another document titled Operating Expenditures and Revenues by Object a financial summary for for 2001 02 l. only the th funds from appropriated d total revenues ar are listed Wh Where re is s the other 25 million Also notable js is the absence of a any y departmental financial fin information rm tion Dont Don't the he col colleges college's ge a academic ade ic departments get a share in the booty y Why has continually increased tuition budgets up 22 in 2002 03 wh when 1 they carry a rollover balance o of 46 million million million mil mil- lion Now maybe maybe- there maybe there are some ome sort of regulations about how much the school has to set aside fo for a rainy day but ut why this does fund fuld keep increasing in size e each ch year Perhaps the colleges college's executives executives executives exec exec- keep the fund flying high hig highto to cover their leisure expenses y Speaking of expenses why why- does consistently overspend overspend overspend over over- spend their th ir travel budget by hundreds hundreds hundreds hun hun- of thousands of dollars budgeted for travel in 2001 02 but spent or 62 over budget Why are budgets so much lower than actual expenses when the school has spent nearly per year for the last several years An audit performed by bythe bythe bythe the Utah State Board of Regents the folks who allocate state tax dollars to colleges showed that the college made use of a private plane for college business trips or other travel means would have been more economical The audit suggests that the school find other means for travel and noted that costs of personal airplane usage should be borne by the President So that's where all the extra money went Perhaps all these things are justifiable we certainly hope they are But unless and until they are justified and simplified students will be forced to conclude con con- conclude clude elude th that t rising ing tui tuition ion has little littleto to to do with improving education and a lot to do with feeding greedy piggy banks YN tWe Weve We've ve got got questions Where are the answers J Data used or referred to in this editorial comes from the Utah State Board of Regents financial data edu financial da bank Information received directly from officials was also consulted for but not directly cited in this article 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