Clearing debts and redistributing funds among colleges for different activities were discussed by the Institute for Student-Related Activities committee Thursday.

After a meeting last week to discuss possible ways to handle The Orion’s debt, Jennifer Mays announced that its debt will be cleared. About $36,000 will be allocated to fully eliminate its debt.

A plan is now being discussed for how to fund the newspaper once its debt is cleared.

Dr. David Scholz then brought up the raised price of fees for tickets sold to his students’ concert and recitals at the University Box Office by 125%. Scholz asked for a review of how money is being distributed for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, as more funds will now be taken from HFA’s budget due to the fee hikes.

“We sold 700 tickets last year… so now instead of about $700, now we’re paying $1850,” said Scholz. “That’s an increase of $1300 that we’re just going to have to absorb.” Scholz pointed to funding for other colleges per student, specifically the College of Agiculture’s allocated $6000 per student as compared to $10 for choral students in HFA, as an example of what he saw as a discrepancy.

However, others felt that increasing the fee was necessary with many other budgetary concerns at hand.

“With freezes in budgets and budget cuts on the state side and student wages continuing to rise, employee wages continuing to rise.. ” said Stephen Cummins (Director of University Public Engagement), “…we’ve got to find something that not just for one year but sustainably for the next three or four years, something that is going to cover the price of that student fee.”

The committee then moved to vote on the final budget allocations.

The following allocations for the following colleges, for education-related activities, were passed with a unanimous vote.

College of Agriculture (AGR) : $64,642

College of Athletics (ATHL): $375,145

College of Behavioral and Social Science (BSS): $113,730

College of Business (BUS): $40,080

College of Communication and Education (CME): $109,519

College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management (ECC): $75,662

College of Graduate Studies (GRAD): $5,718

College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA): $189,178

College of Natural Sciences (NSC): $23,658

College of Regional and Continuing Education (RECS): $84,525

UBO: $108,154

This was the last meeting of the year for the IRA, and further budgeting decisions by the committee will be made over the summer.

Natalie Hanson can be reached at [email protected] or @NatalieH_Orion on Twitter.