Chico State is holding a campus club accountable for profits from selling lab manuals to students.

Omicron Theta Epsilon has been selling to students using a Wildcat Card reader since the university required them to in fall 2013.

The club sells lab manuals in Holt Hall to students taking science classes. Students must swipe their Wildcat Card through a reading machine to buy a manual.

The machine transfers the funds to an Associated Students bank account, which are then transferred to a state account for the club’s use, wrote Lorraine Hoffman, vice president for business and finance, in an email to The Orion.

The club gets charged for the baking process, said Chadwick McCready, senior biology major and president of Omicron Theta Epsilon.

“We have to give them a proposal for what we’re spending, then we get reimbursed, and when we do, we get charged for it,” McCready said.

Each time the club withdraws money from its account, A.S. charges a 2 percent administrative fee.

“The fee covers the administrative process of us holding their funds and for dispersing their funds,” said Susan Jennings, financial director for A.S. Financial Services. “We service their bank account so it’s a bank charge that you would normally have hold your money.”

The Wildcat Card reader protects the student, department and club from issues with handling cash, specifically risks of physically collecting and depositing cash into a bank account, Hoffman wrote.

In addition to protecting students, a required course fee was put in place for science classes that require students to buy lab manuals.

“It is important that any funds collected from students has been approved by the university and that the funds are being used for the purpose for which they were approved,” Hoffman wrote.

The Wildcat Card reading machine is rented to the club from the Wildcat Card Office. The department of business and finance covers the $250 rental fee.

The science professors write the lab manuals that are required and the biology club pays to print and sell them to students.

The club uses the profits to fund scholarships, biology seminars, field trips and science fair workshops with Notre Dame High School.

The department of financial services is looking to establish an “e-market” site where students can purchase lab manuals and the money is directly recorded in the account, which would eliminate the need for a Card reader, Hoffman wrote.

Christine Lee can be reached at [email protected] or @leechris017 on Twitter.