January 18, 2006

Director Candelyn Candeleria

Director Angela Deaver-Campbell

Director Mick DeLuca

Director Mike Foraker

Director Dan Guerrero

Director Gordon Henderson

Director Elizabeth Kemper

Director David Lowenstein

Director Gay MacDonald

Director Berky Nelson

Director Tim Ngubeni

Director Tina Oakland

Director William Parham

Director William Prescott

Director Mauricio Ramos

Director Judith Richlin-Klonsky

Director Ronni Sanlo

Director David Sefton

Director Kathy Simms

Director Jimmie White

Re: FY2005-2006 Comprehensive Unit Assessment (CUA) for Registration Fee Funded Units

Each year, the Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC) conducts an evaluation of campus units that receive registration fee funding. Prior to the budget reductions of the fiscal year 2002-2003, the SFAC conducted a process of Services Assessment Teams (SAT) with the stated purpose of reviewing “operations, services and programs of registration fee funded units for which students are the primary clients.”

In light of the 20% budget reduction in the registration fee, the SFAC suspended the SAT process and replaced it with the Budget Impact Review Team (BIRT) beginning in FY2003-2004 and continuing into FY2004-2005. The BIRT process has been instrumental in helping the SFAC determine the impact that budget reductions have had on the ability of specific units to offer essential services to the campus community. Specifically, the BIRT for FY2004-2005 allowed the SFAC to gain a clearer understanding of the budget reductions. The SFAC found that in some cases units used carry forward funds to mitigate budgetary difficulties.

Presently, the SFAC considers the worst of the budgetary situation to be behind us. More importantly, with the infusion of additional increases of registration fee revenue, the SFAC projects a stable picture for the registration fee in years to come. The SFAC is concerned with developing an understanding of the most pertinent service needs to address in future years.  

Therefore, the SFAC will be incorporating aspects of both the SAT and BIRT processes this year. United under the name of Comprehensive Unit Assessment (CUA), the purpose of the process will be as follows: 1) to understand any lingering impacts of the FY2002-2003 budget reductions, 2) to determine what services have the most pertinent need and 3) to analyze student service needs in light of the budget reductions. In addition, the SFAC will be seeking information on your unit’s use of student user fees, if applicable.

Attached you will find a questionnaire that the SFAC requests that you complete by 5PM on Friday February 10. In addition, please provide us with the e-mail address and phone number of a designated contact person who would be available for an interview. Please forward her/his information to Marilyn Alkin at malkin@saonet.ucla.edu no later than 5PM on Tuesday January 24. If you have any questions regarding this process, please feel free to contact me at ebarba@saonet.ucla.edu. We thank you for your continued cooperation and your effort to provide excellent services to the students.

Warm Regards,

Eric Barba, Chairperson

Student Fee Advisory Committee

Enclosure:         CUA Questionnaire 

cc:        Assistant Vice Chancellor Glyn Davies

            SFAC Members