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Volume II Atlanta, Georgia February 18, 1983 Do You Know Where Your Money Is Going? by Thomasina Toler Have you thought about ex actly how your money is spent? Maybe just out of curiosity you might wonder how your tuition money is being used. Well here is your chance to clear up most questions that have probably crossed your mind from time to time. According to Mr. Robert Flanigan, Vice President for business and financial affairs, it takes 11,100,053 dollars to operate Spelman College. Spelman students pay 4.4 million dollars of that total which is about 39%. Spelman receives the difference from the following sources: grants, the Federal government, endowment in come, auxiliary enterprises in come, and private gifts and grants for operational purposes. Spelman does have a 25 million dollar endowment, but only the income earned from the endow ment can be spent for current operations. The records show that this is how the money is spent. Maintenance of building, grounds, custodial services, utili ty and insurance comes to $800,- 000 dollars which comes directly from the student. The academic affairs which includes teacher’s salaries comes to 3.3 million a year. The food services which include food, utilities, and maintenance cost $850,000 dolalrs. The scholarships and federal student aid totals 2.1 million dollars. The cost of paying for general ad- ministraiton comes to 1.8 million dollars. The student services amount to $900,000. The debt services amount ot $300,000 and other auxiliary operations totals about $200,000. This is what Spelman students are exactly paying for. Each student pays $3,210 for How To Talk To The President by Thomasina Toler There comes a time in the college careers of most college students when she needs to talk to the President of her institu tion. Students may be wondering how to go about this. Here is a step by step procedure to follow when a studentwantsto makean appointment with the President. The number to the office is 681- 3643, but the student can also come to the President’s office in person and make her appoint ment with Dr. Stewart’s personal secretary and receptionist, Mrs. J. Marshall. After doing this, make sure that you are prompt, for your appointment. If you can not make your appointment, they ask that you notify them as early as possible. Now that you know the procedure to meet with the President, you may be wonder ing what kinds of problems you can bring to him. As you may know, there are several departments that specialize in certain problems. For example, there is the Financial Aid Depart ment, Academic Department, Housing Department, College Work Study and Student Ac counts. If you have a problem in these related areas, it is best to go directly to these departments to try and get it solved. If these departments fail to solve your problem, you may want to make an appointment to discuss your specific problem with Dr. Stewart. If you feel that you’re up against the wall, don’t just keep all your problems to yourself, take them to the school ad ministration. Remember, this is your college and it’s up to you to take full advantage of it. tuition and fees. The records show that it takes $6,800 dollars to pay for tuition for each student therefore Spelman is coming up with $3,590 per student enrolled here. Spelman students do pay for the room and board which includes the maintenance of the dormitory, utilities, food and maintenance of the cafeteria. Some students have complain ed about the meal plan. There have been suggestions to have a seven day, fourteen day, and a twenty-one day meal plan. These plans mean that the student can only eat as many meals that week as her individual plan calls for. After talking to Mr. Flanigan led me to believe that if Spelman, a small private college oranysmall private college established such a system eventually it would, cause the students to pay more in the long run. The food system Spelman uses causes the ad ministration to buy food in large amounts because the food is less expensive. So, if the food was cut in half we would still pay a great amount for it. The maintenance and utility bill would still be the same. But because fewer students would be eating, the students that do eat are sure to see an increase in board. Mr. Flanigan made it very clearthat it is possible that Spelman may see a change in the meal plan, but its not probable in the near future. The next issue discussed was college fees. Each Spelmanite pays a total of $175 dollars for activity fees. The breakdown of fees consist of $90 dollars for the use of Manley center. The total comes to around $135,500 and according to Mr. Flanigan it is not nearly enough to operate Manley Center. So who makes up the difference? "Spelman does,” says Mr. Flanigan. The $50.00 for health goes to the infirmary for medical services includingminor illnesses treated at the college infirmary. The student activity fee covers ac tivities such as dances, student publications and plays and is paid directly to the S.S.G.A. and lastly the cultural fees pay for the speakers and visitors that appear on campus. I asked Mr. Flanigan if there was any possible way that the activity fee could be cut down. He implied that Spelman students are already paying only a share of what it takes to run Spelman College. ‘‘If the students were to truly be fair they wouldn't even think of such an unfair deal.” But we are the students here and it is up to us to look after our money and investments. Any student wishing to find out more about the financial aspects of Spelman can go to the business department and research for her own satisfaction.