The Student Services Finance Committee met Wednesday to discuss the University Health Services budget and vote on the Recreation & Wellbeing Budget.
Executive Director of University Health Services Jake Baggott presented UHS’s budget to the committee, which requests a 10% increase in segregated fees for the next year. The total increase requested is $24.06, meaning the portion of undergraduate student segregated fees that would go toward UHS would go from $240 to $264.06.
Segregated fees are “charges, in addition to tuition, assessed to all students for student services, activities, programs, and facilities that support the mission of University of Wisconsin System institutions, including UW-Madison.” These fees go to a wide variety of services including nurse services, laboratory services, radiology services, athletic training, nutrition and communicable diseases.
Baggott discussed the breakdown of the budget this past year — 45% of the budget supports clinical operations, 25% supports mental health services, 22% supports infrastructure and 8% supports prevention measures.
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Prevention measures this past year included COVID, flu and monkeypox initiatives. As we reach the endemic stage of the pandemic, cases within Dane County are considerably low, Baggott said. The University continues to offer PCR testing to those who want it, but the number of those who are requesting tests continues to decline. UHS has given out a little over 6,000 COVID boosters this year and distributed about 13,000 antigen tests.
UHS continues to support a very robust flu vaccine clinic across campus. They set a goal of 18,000 vaccines and have reached well over 93% of that goal, Baggott said.
Segregated fees fund 80% of University Health Services spending, with the biggest part of the expenses going toward the salary budget. UHS is forecasting to spend $22,910,900 this year and has received $22,449,100 in funding. They are operating in an intentional deficit of $461,800, Baggott said.
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Baggott also discussed UHS departmental accomplishments. According to a survey, 92% of patients reported satisfaction with medical services received at UHS, and 99% reported they felt their privacy and confidentiality were protected during their services. Within Mental Health Services, 99% of students felt that their provider listened carefully to their concerns.
After discussing last week’s RecWell hearing, the committee approved their proposed budget unanimously.
The committee also discussed proposed legislation to increase the General Student Services Fund hourly rate to $15. Currently, student salaries are budgeted at $12 per hour. ASM Student Council increased the ASM student hourly wage rate to $15 on Nov. 30. SSFC has historically kept the GSSF student hourly wage at the same rate as ASM, according to the document.
The committee voted unanimously to amend the GSSF wage policy.
SSFC next meets Dec. 8.
