Pitt-Johnstown Student Government Association Sen. Samuel Miller and Allocations Chairwoman Madison Nick are planning to raise the activity fee to $90 per student.

Right now, the fee is $83, which, once every student has paid and the money is pooled, goes to more than 90 student organizations at Pitt-Johnstown. The fee has not been raised in eight years, so perhaps it is fair to raise it now.

There are significantly more clubs now than there were on campus when the fee was last raised, so the fee money is divided more and more thinly to the existing clubs. Clubs who submit budgets don’t always get all they ask for, for one reason or another. If the activity fee is raised, more money can be distributed among clubs.

With more money, individual clubs will be able to plan and execute more activities for the student body than there are right now. The Programming Board, which is the organization in charge of planning events for students, received the largest split of the money, and will be able to hold more extravagant events. We look forward to what could be put together with a higher fee.

If the fee is raised, however, we want to know how it is being divided.

In the contracts to be signed upon admission to the university, it says that the activities fee is subject to change without prior notice. This is not fair to students.

If the fee is increased, students have a right to know exactly why. Thus, senators should provide proof for exactly how many new clubs are around, exactly how much more is necessary or would be satisfactory and exactly how each dollar will be assigned. Seven more dollars per student per semester translates to an additional $36,400 to the money pool for budgets. Such a huge increase in money available needs a precise justification.

We thank the Student Government Association for releasing budget information, but we would like to know how many clubs have been chartered since 2008 and how much money has been denied due to low funds in recent years.