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Staff to present budget

By: Landis Erwin, assitant news editor

     Students will have the chance to voice their opinions and give feedback to members of the administration at the Presidential Budget and Finance Meeting, 6 p.m. Thursday in Room 219 of the Waldron Campus Center.
     Linda Wagner, vice president of finance and administration, said that the budget meeting is an annual get-together among between President Antoine M. Garibaldi, his staff and members of the Student Government Association. Since tuition rates for the next academic year are set at this time every year, this meeting will show the students how tuition and fees will be affected by the proposed budget.
     Wagner said the Garibaldi and his staff believe that it is important to keep the student body and its leaders informed about financial matters that affect them.
     “Students should be aware of the reasons that certain decisions are made regarding changes to the cost of tuition and fees,” she said. “This is the student leaders’ chance to ask questions and receive answers directly from the people who make these types of decisions.”
     Wagner said she expects that students will have questions and they hope to answer those questions, giving the students a better understanding of how decisions are made.
     Thomas Panighetti, a junior political science major and SGA vice president of academic affairs, said that he thinks the meeting is a worthwhile event to attend and that it is important for the administration to listen to student concerns and take them into account. He said that there have been two students on the Budget and Planning Committee for the university, which oversees any change in tuition, so student input has been in the process the entire way through.
     “This is a time when more than two students, rather the whole student body, is invited to give their opinions and to speak what is on their mind,” he said.
     “Every student pays tuition and would like to have more money to spend elsewhere; therefore, this is an issue that affects each student at least in the pocketbook.”
     Dan Morelli, a sophomore accounting major and SGA treasurer, said that he expects discussions about enrollment projections and how they were able to come up with a balanced budget, along with the tuition increases.
     “As a student, I feel these topics are important to discuss because the students need to be aware of how much tuition and housing is

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