Student Fee Advisory Committee

(View PDF version of Meeting Minutes)

Attendees: Rosalinda Garcia, Fred Juarez, Adalberto Gonzalez, Jesus “Conrad” Galaviz, Santiago Garcia Rosales

Other Attendees: Trevor Liddle, Jaquavous S. Doucette, Yelitza Howard, Patricia Ruiz

Welcome

Ms. Garcia welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Mr. Trevor Liddle, Associate Vice-President, Office of the President, Mr. Jaquavous Doucette, Student Regent, and Ms. Yelitza Howard, Director, Office of Career Services.

Approval of Minutes

Approval of March 6, 2026 Minutes

Ms. Garcia asked if there were any corrections to the minutes. Hearing none, motion to approve was made by Mr. Garcia, seconded by Mr. Gonzalez, and all in favor voiced “I”. The minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

Discussion of SFAC Funds and Review of Report

Ms. Garcia referenced the discussion held at the committee’s last meeting regarding $23,000 in available SFAC funds and the committee’s suggestions to use these funds for various university projects. Ms. Garcia also noted the committee’s interest in supporting a shading project (a pergola “maroon square” project) based on Mr. Liddle’s report on campus improvements presented at the January 23, 2026 meeting. Ms. Garcia stated Mr. Liddle was asked to research the costs of this shading project and provide a status update to the committee at today’s meeting. Mr. Liddle presented the following information:

• The architects of this proposed project require a payment of $16,000 just for the design. This arrangement does not include any other work related to labor costs, identification of required materials, or other items as needed.
  • Mr. Liddle advised the committee this prearrangement is not cost effective and does not support the committee’s best interests to allocate its available funds for a university beautification project. Mr. Liddle added, in his professional opinion, distributing the available SFAC funds for this shading project does not support the committee’s intentions to use these funds for “the greatest good”.
  • Mr. Liddle stated the suggestion of allocating the committee’s available funds to the career closet will have “an immediate direct impact” to support students in career readiness initiatives success in obtaining the most optimum results when seeking employment.
  • Mr. Liddle advised the members the university welcomes another opportunity to work together with the SFAC committee on beautification, upgrade, and/or improvement projects for the Mr. Liddle was asked to explain the specifics of the pergola shading project originally presented to the committee at its January meeting:
    • Mr. Liddle described this plan as the “maroon square” project which includes a pergola sunshade layout design envisioned on the university’s master plan. This pergola would be located on the east/west paseo between the Academic Innovation Center – AIC and the University Police Department – UPD buildings.
  • In conclusion, Mr. Liddle stated supporting the career closet with SFAC’s available funds provides the committee with a better opportunity to impact students instead of distributing these funds towards a design development project which requires more time, is more costly, and is already integrated in the university’s master plan.

Ms. Garcia thanked Mr. Liddle for his time and work on this follow-up request and for his recommendation on how the committee should move forward on its selected project.

Office of Career Services Presentation

Ms. Garcia explained that, at the previous meeting, the committee expressed interest in allocating available SFAC funds to the Career Closet and requested that Ms. Howard attend today’s meeting to provide an overview of the Career Closet and Career Services.

Ms. Howard outlined the following key facts:

FY 2025 Trends:

• A significant increase in growth was realized in student engagement and usage of the career closet – at 629% represented by a total of 277 students in FY25 compared to 38 students in FY23.
• More than half of the student ratio usage, 52.6% are male students.
• The quantity of blazers, pants/skirts, and shirts requested by students has more than doubled with each visit; students are requesting more than two items at a time.
• The substantial increase in students’ usage of the closet’s clothing has significantly raised current dry-cleaning expenses to $5,700.
• The additional budget needed to maintain ongoing operations for this fiscal year is anticipated to be $9,700.

Ms. Howard stated the Career Services Office is mindful of its budgetary requirements in managing the daily operations of the Career Closet and the office has been fortunate to receive various donor gifts over the last several years. Ms. Howard explained the staff ensures the clothing and accessories purchased are of good quality and are cleaned in a timely manner to address students’ demands and added the staff performs all related job tasks as cost effectively as possible.

 Ms. Garcia thanked Ms. Howard for her time in presenting this information.

Committee Discussion/Questions

Committee Voting Process: Ms. Garcia advised that the committee would vote electronically on allocating $9,700 in available SFAC funds to the Career Closet. She will recuse herself from the vote due to her oversight of Career Services. Ms. Garcia stated the voting results would be presented to the committee members via email and if approved, a separate addendum document on this approval would be prepared and presented to President Maynard to record the committee’s decision.

Additional Project Proposals and Allocation of Remaining Available SFAC Funds: The committee discussed the remaining available SFAC funds and various suggestions on proposed projects:

• Solar panel charging stations: To provide students with a charging station outside at several campus locations.
  • Mr. Juarez asked Mr. Gonzalez to confer with Mr. Adrian Dominguez, Director of Environmental Safety, to ensure all relevant information regarding this proposed project is obtained.
• Purchase of new seating furniture: Specifically for the Skylab to remove “sofa chairs” which are identified as non-replaceable.

Ms. Garcia explained that limited time remained in the spring semester to complete another project, echoing concerns raised by Mr. Galaviz at the previous meeting. She noted that the committee could meet again to consider additional proposals, but cautioned against starting a project that could not be completed. Any unused SFAC funds would roll over to the next fiscal year.

Mr. Gonzalez acknowledged Ms. Garcia’s explanation regarding the rollover of the remaining balance of available SFAC funds to the next fiscal year and stated since these funds would remain available, there is no urgency for the committee to finalize its decision on an additional project at this time. Mr. Garcia added it would be best not to spend these available funds instead of misspending this money.

Mr. Gonzalez praised Career Services for its commitment to student success despite being underfunded and facing rising costs. He highlighted the staff’s outreach to student organizations and credited their efforts with increased demand for the Career Closet.

Mr. Gonzalez advised the committee, based on Ms. Howard’s presentation on the office’s expenses and the substantial growth and expansion of the services provided by the Career Services Office, he recommends allocating the requested funding to the Career Closet to further support the potential continued growth of this department’s resources.

Project Recap: Ms. Garcia requested to outline the projects discussed/presented at today’s meeting and the committee’s respective decisions, detailed as follows:

• Shading (Pergola) Project: Mr. Liddle presented a status update on this project which requires a payment of $16,000 just for the planned design. Mr. Liddle advised the committee this arrangement is not cost effective and more importantly, this project is already included in the university’s master plan for campus improvements.
  • Ms. Garcia asked the committee members if all agreed to remove this project from its consideration to allocate available SFAC funds.  Consensus of the committee agreed this project is no longer included as a prospective project for the allocation of available SFAC funds.
• Career Services Office – Career Closet: Ms. Garcia referenced this office’s specific request for $9,700 in funding to support dry cleaning expenses and the expansion of the closet. Ms. Garcia asked the committee if everyone agreed to initiate a vote for the approval of this project.
  • Committee consensus was to move forward with this project selection. Additional discussion and focus points include the following:
    • The committee considered whether the requested amount presented by Ms. Howard should be increased to $10,000. Mr. Juarez suggested the funding approved for this project should be used for payment on individual invoices submitted for processing and as for the expansion of the career closet, payments should be based on specific quotes. Mr. Juarez added a specific account number would be created for this funding distribution to streamline the accounting of payment amounts processed and to ensure the total amount of payments does not exceed the $9,700 funding allocation amount approved by the committee.
    • Ms. Garcia referenced similar funding projects approved in the past required the recipient office to submit receipts for payments remitted and the reimbursement of these payments would equal only up to the total funding amount approved for that office. Ms. Garcia stated using this as an example, the Career Services Office would not receive $9,700 in a lump sum but rather through a distribution of the individual invoice amounts submitted for processing up to/not to exceed a maximum of $9,700.
    • Ms. Garcia advised the committee the voting method to approve this proposed project could be completed via email which would document each member’s individual response and that she would recuse herself from this voting process. The committee agreed to vote on this project via email.
    • Mr. Gonzalez requested the presentation given by Ms. Howard to be included in the meeting minutes for today’s session.
• Students’ Separate Letter of Recommendation to University President: The committee’s recent letter to the President recommended no changes to the FY26 student fee budgets. It was, however, noted that, two years earlier, students submitted a separate letter expressing concerns about underfunding in SOLE and Student Affairs. Although no immediate action was taken, both offices received additional funding the following year. It was also clarified that committee members have the option of submitting a separate letter to the President regarding budget concerns, such as those raised about Career Services.
• Committee’s Last Meeting: Ms. Garcia requested clarification on the committee’s decision to roll over the remaining available SFAC funds to the next fiscal year or should another meeting be scheduled to discuss the other projects presented.  Mr. Gonzalez stated the decision is to roll over the remaining funds to the next fiscal year. Ms. Garcia advised, based on this decision, this is the committee’s last meeting.

Next Steps

• Ms. Garcia advised an email would be forwarded to committee members to vote on the approval of $9,700 in available SFAC funds for the Career Services Office career closet.
  • Ms. Garcia stated a separate addendum document would be drafted on the voting results for this item.
• The remaining balance of available SFAC funds will be rolled over in the committee’s budget for the next fiscal year.

Ms. Garcia thanked the members for their time and all their work on the committee during this fiscal year.

Meeting Adjourned: 10:41 a.m.