Students can rest assured their payments for schedule changes are being put to use.

The increase in projected money from schedule-change fees this year will help fund new staff positions, said Mike Dale, assistant vice president of Academic Affairs.

Budget Director Kim Reed said the projection for 2010-2011, estimated at about $297,000, will go toward a research analyst position that will work with enrollment management data and positions in student financial aid.

The actual revenue of $321,559 from the 2010 fiscal year exceeded the projection of $150,000, according to Reed.

“That increase stemmed from a motion from the student regent at the Board of Regents meeting,” Reed said.

Dale said that with the new positions formed, he anticipates the budget to remain relatively the same in the coming years.

“The positions in the financial aid office were new positions for this year,” Dale said. “The research analyst position had been paid for by one-time funding but was budgeted this year with the extra money.

The motion to raise the schedule-change fee passed in April 2009 and raised the schedule change fee of $20 to $50.

The decision was made in an effort to minimize “course shopping,” or registering for a lot of classes with the intent to drop the least favorable.

The increased revenue will also help pay for recruiting expenses for Admissions, office supplies, postage and computer replacements, Reed said.

She said the projections are calculated by looking at past spending.

“They look at actual receipts for (the fiscal year) and year-to-date receipts to make a projection for the next year,” Reed said.

She said 60 percent of the fee revenue is issued to Academic Affairs, and the remaining 40 percent is issued to Finance and Administration each fiscal year.

Bowling Green junior Katie Stillwell is one of the many students who have been affected by the change fee increase.

Stillwell said she registered in a chemistry course but decided to drop it because she switched to a political science major and didn’t want the course to negatively affect her GPA.

Although the increased fee “wasn’t a huge burden,” Stillwell said she is not in favor of the decision.

“I don’t think that $50 is necessarily fair,” she said. “But I do understand the administration trying to eliminate course shopping.”