At the beginning of each semester, tuition is due. With every bill, there is a break down where the money goes. Along with basic tuition, there are fees that students attending classes on campus at MSU have to pay.

“So obviously there are different fees. So some of the fees are associated with whatever they are. The rec fee, that goes to the rec center,” Marilyn Fowlé, vice president of business affairs. “Then you got some fees that are more generic, the student service fee for instance.”

The Student Service Fee funds 30 different groups on campus. With this specific fee, the state of Texas has it written in law that there must be a Student Service Fee Committee made up of students.

“Keith Lamb and I advise and answer questions,” Fowlé said. “But pretty much those students on that committee decide where the money goes once a year.”

The six-membered Student Allocations Committee recommends what the student fees are spent on.

Student Government President Ellie Gunderson said:

“The committee meets each spring and recommend the proposed budget to University President Suzanne Shipley. If she makes a change she has to come back to the committee and explain why. That is our say, we get to decide how much money a group gets and whether we are going to give them the full money they asked for, or if we are going to move it around. There is always more asked for then what we have to give.”

Through Student Government, students are given a say on where some of their money goes each year.

Gunderson said, “Any student can serve on this committee, every student is part of student government.”

For a student taking classes on campus in Wichita Falls a Student Service Fee of $18.75 per credit hour is charged. A student taking 12 hours can expect to pay $225 of student service fees for one semester.

The Student Service Fee accumulates to just over $2.6 million and funds 30 groups and events on campus.

• Artist Lecture Series – $45,000
• Career Management Center – $273,657
• Cheerleaders – $60,000
• Clark  Student Center – $345,000
• Convocation – $6,500
• Counseling Center – $411,994
• Disability Support Services – $174,644
• Equality and Inclusion – $110,000
• Family Day – $15,000
• Homecoming – $20,000
• Honors Banquet – $6,000
• Inclusion Now – $5,000
• MSU Cycling Team – $102,000
• Music – $20,000
• New Student Orientation – $7,500
• Recreational Sports – $108,736
• Retirees Group Insurance Expense – $57,875
• Social Media – $9,000
• Steel Pan-Winterguard – $4,000
• Student Involvement – $219,443
• Student Government – $37,500
• Student I.D./Handbook – $4,500
• Student Success Series – $15,500
• Title IX – $47,320
• University Programming Board – $69,000
• Vinson Health Center – $425,285
• Voices – $6,000
• Wai-Kun – $6,000
• Welcome Week – $5,000
• Wichitan – $10,629