More than a dozen campus entities funded by student fees are reeling following proposed budget cuts totaling more than $200,000 to their 2026 budgets. The reductions came after it was revealed to the Student Government Association’s Student Fee Commission the morning deliberations began that there was a more than $900,000 shortfall in funding due to incorrectly calculated estimates and decreased enrollment.

Student Engagement & Belonging

Student Engagement & Belonging typically requests and receives around $1.5 million, making it one of the largest student fee allocations. This year, SEB requested $1.6 million and received $1.5 million. Executive Director of SEB Gabriel Fonseca said working with a smaller budget than the department hoped for will “be a little bit harder than I anticipated.”

Currently, the office has four open positions. The work that would be done through these roles has instead been delegated to other employees, but with the proposed cuts, changes to workload and services may be on the horizon.

“The work still has to happen,” Fonseca said. “So ultimately, some of that responsibility will permanently be put on other staff to continue to keep up some of that or we’ll have to reevaluate what programs and services we still offer to students.”

SEB currently encompasses and manages groups and programs like Ambassadors for Diversity & Inclusion, Student Activities Council, Greek life, heritage programs and more.

In the coming weeks, Fonseca anticipates there will be “some deep conversations about what we’re going to do next.”

WSU Student of the Year

An annual award granted to a WSU freshman, sophomore, junior, graduate, senior honors and undergraduate student, the WSU Student of the Year award’s $2,430 budget was cut for 2026.

Only “a small piece” of the WSU Student of the Year scholarship is funded by student fees, according to Fonseca. The remainder comes from several donors, some who have been supporting the scholarship for more than 50 years.

Fonseca hopes that a donor or the WSU Foundation might be able to eventually support the entire program. For now, Fonseca said they’ll look internally for funds.

“For 2026, we will just have to find it in our budget in hopes that it’ll be able to cover it so that students who win it next year can still get the scholarship that every other person got before them,” Fonseca said.

SGA Scholarships and Hardship Fund

Comprising the domestic student hardship fund, the International Student Hardship Fund and the Dreamer Scholarship, the SGA Scholarships and Hardship Fund was reduced from $34,500 to $30,000. 

The Hardship Fund is a one-time, emergency-use-only fund for students experiencing severe, temporary hardship. Fonseca said this is a fund that is commonly completely used up over the year.

As a result of the cut, Fonseca said they will delay putting the applications out “until we can figure out how we’re going to make up the difference.” 

The application will likely be offered in May, following the election and installation of the new student body president and vice president.

Child Development Center

According to Jillian Hoefer, the director of the Child Development Center, the CDC had a predetermined agreement with the Student Government Association to reduce its budget by $50,000 every year for three years. The center’s second proposed $50,000 cut was made last week.

As a result of these $50,000 reductions, the center has had to increase its tuition rates for parents who use the center’s child care and development services. Hoefer said that tuition increase has made some of its programming unaffordable for Wichita State University students to bring their children to the center. 

The center lost eight families last year, some of whom had been using the center for several years. Hoefer said she is anticipating additional losses with the cuts from this year. And while the center has a waitlist of families who want to use its services, Hoefer said this year’s $50,000 reduction will likely cut directly into paid student labor.

“So with the $50,000 that was again cut from us this year, that means, again, we have to raise tuition, which again is making it more unaffordable for students to bring their children here, as well as cutting some of our teacher assistance from our program, and that’s heartbreaking,” Hoefer said. “Because it’s hard for us to tell a student who is here, who we consider family, you know, ‘You no longer have a job because we can’t support that anymore.’”

The center currently has 60 Wichita State students employed, making it one of the campus’ largest student employers, according to Hoefer.

“Our main mission is to provide child care for the Wichita State community and students too … but we’re an applied learning facility,” Hoefer said. “I mean, all of our students that come here get experiential and applied learning, which directly ties into the university’s mission. That’s one of their primary goals, is to provide applied learning opportunities for students and we are, you know, an epiphany of that.”

During fees hearings last week, Speaker of the Senate Victoria Owens said that it was clear from the CDC’s presentation that “their program is dying.” Hoefer disagreed with the statement.

“Not only did those words cut deep for our staff that’s here but also for our teacher assistants because we’re not dying; we’re thriving,” Hoefer said. “We have a waitlist. We have a full facility. So to hear those words just very much contradicts everything that we do here.

“It is going to have an impact on our students. And, you know, one of the biggest things I always hear through student fees is that if we can help just one student, we’re helping a student. And that’s what we do.”

According to Hoefer, the center’s financial model has been student fee funded since its conception, and it’s the reduction of student fee dollars that has made it so difficult to sustain certain operations. 

Going forward, Hoefer said the center will have to “be as savvy as we can with our funds.” They plan to first reduce extra costs, like staff events and field trips, before firing teacher assistants. 

Starting on July 1, those who use the center will see a 10% increase in tuition for younger age groups and a 7% increase for older age groups. The center will also try to pay students through work-study programs and apply grant money. But, Hoefer said, there’s no guarantee.

“We have to cut a lot of things that make us uniquely us out,” Hoefer said. “… Next year is going to be even more of a challenge, because again, they are reducing it again (by) another $50,000 next year.”

SGA is inviting campus entities to speak during its March 26 meeting where the body will vote on the proposed fee recommendations. Hoefer said, however, that they are being advised not to speak.

“We’re receiving the reduction no matter what,” she said.

But she said she hopes that going forward, advocates on campus can recognize the value the center provides for children, student employees and the future of Wichita State.

“While yes, in the grand scheme of things, it might be on a smaller scale, it’s no less important than any other entity over there on campus,” Hoefer said. “If anything, we consider it more important because we are developing young children, we are developing future students of Shocker Nation here … we’re also creating future teachers.”

Esports

The Wichita State Esports team entered its student fees hearing with a $95,000 request for scholarships, a $70,000 increase from the year before. The team was instead allocated $10,000 for scholarships and $40,000 for its varsity team. The varsity team had requested $155,440, just a few thousand dollars more than last year.

According to Fonseca, esports and varsity esports did not submit presentations for the commission to review ahead of its hearings.

When asked for comment, the group declined to speak, sharing that they do intend to speak at the SGA open forum on March 26 and that any comment ahead of that presentation would be “premature.”

The Tilford Commission

The Tilford Commission, which coordinates The Tilford Conference, lost all of its $10,054 in student fee funding. Named after Michael Tilford, a former WSU representative on the Kansas Board of Regents’ Multiculturalism Committee, the commission focuses on including diversity in higher education. Currently, the link with information on the Tilford Conference is unavailable.

According to Fonseca, the Tilford Commission did not submit a presentation for review ahead of its hearing.

Members of The Tilford Commission declined to speak on the record.

Cultural Ambassador Program

The Cultural Ambassador Program, which serves eight students, requested $10,000 and received $0. Commissioners found that the program, which is managed by the Office of International Education, did not have a significant impact on international students.

Current members of the Cultural Ambassador Program were not available for comment.

Student Affairs’ Assessment and Retention unit

The Student Affairs’ Assessment and Retention unit also lost all of its student fee funding — nearly $39,000 — after commissioners expressed that its services were redundant.

Alicia Newell, the assistant vice president of student services, could not be reached for comment.

ShockerStrengths Initiative

Kennedy Rogers, who presented on behalf of ShockerStrengths Initiative, could not be reached for comment. The initiative previously did not receive student fees funding and requested $40,000 for 2026.

Debate

WSU’s debate group requested $25,000, the same value they requested last year. For 2026, the group was allotted $10,000.

According to Fonseca, debate did not submit a presentation for review ahead of its hearing.

Philips Samuels, the director of debate and assistant professor of communication, could not be reached for comment.