Input will advise vice chancellor's budget decisions

Who better to ask about student services than students?

That's the driving force behind a recent student survey prepared by the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee and distributed to about 2,000 randomly selected students via MyUCDavis and the Web.

And the results matter.

The findings will be tabulated in early April and used to advise Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Judy Sakaki on allocating budget reductions to the various student services for the 2004-05 fiscal year.

The survey is checking the pulse of students on which programs work the best, which are the most useful, and how programs might be improved. Designed by the students over the course of a few months, the survey asked respondents to rate 27 student-oriented programs as deserving of either "low," "medium" or "high" importance when it comes to funding them.

The Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee advises the campus administration on the use of student registration fees. These are fees paid by each registered student for services that are necessary to students but not part of the university's programs of instruction, research or public service. Examples include counseling, academic advising, tutorial assistance, cultural and recreational programs, and capital improvements that provide extracurricular benefits for students.

"We represent your voice on fees and student services," said committee chair Richard Cipian in a letter sent to the surveyed students. "To better understand your values, we are asking that you respond to this survey."

Nancy Flagg, budget coordinator in student affairs, says this survey is the first of its kind in how it uses the Web to gather random survey information. "We have not done a large, random survey of student opinion on student services like this before."

As for what the results may yield, Flagg says anything is possible but that historically students have placed an emphasis on health services and counseling.

The survey was administered by the Student Affairs Research and Information unit and strong measures were taken to remove all identifying information from the final results.

Services mentioned included: admissions information and processing; course registration; food services; student housing; intercollegiate athletics; intramural and club sport programs; re-entry, transfer, veteran and disabled student services; internships and career advising; resources for women and gender studies; and ethnic studies advising and support.

The survey included an open-ended format in which students were asked to jot down their responses to two questions: "Do you have any suggestions on student services that should be added or enhanced once the budget situation improves?" and "Do you have comments on the quality of any of the current student services?"

Membership in the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee includes three faculty or academic federation or staff members; nine students, with six of them being undergraduates and three from the graduate or professional school ranks. Under the bylaws, members may not have a vested interest in programs financed from registration fees.

In advising on registration and campus-based fees, the committee is charged with consulting broadly from a diversity of campus sources. It is, however, not the role of the committee to actually manage registration fees. The committee receives staff support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs as well as budgetary information from the Office of Resource Management and Planning.