The Student Activities Fee — $120 per year — shows up on every tuition bill. The money is pooled and then distributed by Associated Student Government’s Student Activities Finance Board to approved A-status student groups. A student can opt out of paying up. But if students choose not to pay, they shouldn’t do so on the grounds that the SAFB is not equitable — the current process by which funds are doled out is fair and practical for student groups and students in general.

Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis expressed concern that the process of distributing funds is not balanced at the Oct. 1 ASG Senate meeting and hinted there might be a review of that process so more groups would have access to funding. At present the Student Activities Fee (a total of about $800,000 distributed Spring Quarter, with supplemental funding Fall Quarter) is divided among those 41 groups. It is impossible that all students are involved in or benefit from the programming of these specific groups.

But if students are going to pay, they should be assured their fees are well spent. A-status groups have shown an ability to manage money and provide quality programming.

With proper organization and operations, nearly any group can achieve A-status. Only one real time constraint slows that upgrade — Student Group Guidelines require organizations to spend at least one quarter on T-status (temporary or training status). If a group achieves the same results as A-status groups and meets other requirements, they can move up the funding food chain.

If students are going to pay $120 per year, they should at least be guaranteed a good program when they show up. The current process used to distribute students’ money is the most fair and feasible method to guarantee that.