The Santa Fe Trail Room of the Rhatigan Student Center was filled with representatives from several student organizations Wednesday night.

They attended the Student Government Association meeting to speak about the recommended from allocations the students fees committee, made public Tuesday. Many who spoke in the public forum expressed concerns about the allocations this year, especially since some groups are slated to lose their entire student fee allocations.

Rodney Miller, dean of the College of Fine Arts, spoke up during the meeting.

“There are some rather interesting variations in cuts,” he said.

SGA treasurer Mariah Smith, who served on the student fees committee, said this year was the most difficult year to decide where the student fees money would go.

“Usually, we what we look at is where we can make cuts so that we can make increases that need to be made,” Smith said. “This year, there’s no talk of any increases and it was just, ‘Where are we going to find this area to cut?’”

She said the Student Fees committee had a budget shortfall of about $300,000 due to decreased student enrollment and enrolled credit hours.

Student Body President Joseph Shepard, another member of the committee, said the student fees committee entered the room at 12:30 p.m. Friday to finish hearing from groups about their plans for student fees before spending about seven hours deliberating where the money would go. The committee remained in the room until 10 p.m., Shepard said.

“We take it very seriously because the decisions we make impacts the student body,” he said. “It impacts all 15,000 students that we represent.”

Smith said once deliberations ended, several committee members left the room feeling “defeated.”

“We were feeling just all around down because it was such a hard thing to do,” she said. “I know I can say that a million times, but when you know that you’re one of the seven people who get a vote on that committee and that you’re having to make these cuts and that you’re going to be accountable to these cuts when they’re cuts you don’t even really want to make, it’s very difficult to have that happen.”

Shepard said at one point, he looked to his left and saw a student in tears because of the recommended allocations to her organization.

It’s because this program had impacted her and her Shocker experience,” Shepard said. “How do you justify cutting an organization that has such as powerful impact on students?”

Based on Wednesday’s meeting, Shepard said the student fees committee might need to reconsider some of the recommendations it made.

“This is a recommendation committee,” he said. “We don’t have the final say.”

The next step in the process is for SGA to debate the student fees recommendation at the next meeting March 9. If it passes, Senate will send the recommendations to University President John Bardo, who can approve the allocations, but has the autonomy to change anything he wants to about the allocations, Smith said.

If the recommended allocations do not pass Senate next week, Smith said the recommendations go back to the student fees committee, which would deliberate the fees based on the recommendations of Senate. From there, the process would repeat if needed until Senate approved the fees.

Smith and Shepard agreed the whole process of student fees is not something they, or anyone on the student fees committee, takes lightly.

“It’s one of the most serious parts of our job,” Shepard said.