The 33 qualifying Instructionally Related Activities programs affiliated with various colleges on campus will cumulatively receive about $70,000 less for the fall 1998 and spring 1999 semesters than they did this academic year.
Despite a projected increase in enrollment, the 1998-99 IRA amount of $1,426,000 was lower than this year's $1,495,540 fund due to a previous oversight in student waiver fees.
"The board, in 1996, forgot to take into account student waiver fees for the 1997-98 budget," said Keith Polakoff, vice president of academic affairs and IRA board member. "The 1997-98 budget was overextended. We didn't forget about the student waiver fees this time."
Student fees comprise the IRA fund. There are four groups of students whose $25 dollar-per-semester IRA fee may be waived: senior citizens, veterans, students studying abroad and staff.
There are four programs that did not receive any IRA funds next year: the Bateman Competition and the Other Voices/Other Stories programs, which are new, and the Campus Connection and High Tech Center programs.
This year, the three programs that did not receive any IRA funds were Campus Connection, University Magazine and the Daily Forty Niner. The latter two did receive funding for 1998-99.
The programs that came up empty-handed may still receive funding, according to Armando Contreras, executive assistant to the president.
President Robert Maxson is looking into other funding options for these programs and will release his findings later this week.