Wichita State’s Student Government Association approved six unallocated student fees funding bills Wednesday totaling $63,063.

The requests for money came from the WSU Band, the Association for Collegiate Entrepreneurs, the Ulrich Museum of Art and the Master’s in Fine Arts program and were considered by the Senate’s Student Fees Committee before full-Senate consideration.

Unallocated student fees is money left over from student fees after budgeting for the fiscal year.

Because the unallocated student fees account is based on how many credit hours will be taken over the fiscal year, the account is estimated to be about $400,000.

The funding bill designating $17,000 for the Master’s of Fine Arts Writing Now/Reading Now program generated debate among senators about what student fees should pay for.

The program allows students from any major to listen and learn from professional writers. The money pays for the event, speakers’ traveling costs and a professional recording, which gives students the opportunity to listen online if they could not attend.

SGA President Darren Beckham believed that because the program suits an academic purpose, it would be better for extra tuition dollars to fund it instead of unallocated student fees.

Beckham said he “loves” the program but felt it could be paid for differently through the academic program.

“My fear is that we are not paying attention to the opportunity cost,” Beckham said. “If we don’t ever say to the academic division, ‘No, we will not fund this, though we like it, though it deserves all the funding in the world, we think you should, so that we can focus closer to our mission.’”

Many within the Senate expressed different opinions about the use of student fees money. Some argued that anything that serves the students should be considered, while others said it should be something suggested by the students and organizations.

SGA director of public relations Marinés Figueroa said that she felt the Writing Now/Reading Now program is a good match for how the money should be spent.

“Although I agree that we really need to start thinking about the things that we are funding, I do not think that this particular situation should lead to those thoughts,” Figueroa said. “I think it goes directly with the purpose of the association, according to the [SGA] Constitution.”

SGA Legislative Director Andrew Longhofer and Vice President of Campus Life and University Relations, Wade Robinson, argued that while the discussion should be had, it would be better to have it outside of the consideration of a specific request.

“I feel like that kind of discussion is better had in the abstract, in a vacuum, not when a specific program is asking for money,” Longhofer said.

Robinson said “I’m all for redefining the discussion. I don’t know that we do it in the middle of this flow when there’s an expectation of how we were asking or inviting people to come forward.”