The Memorial Union fee is most likely at an appropriate level.  In most years, our revenue/expense ratio is within 1-3%.  We do not routinely see large amounts of student fees left at the end of the year, nor are we making large purchases at the end of the year to reduce the likelihood of surplus dollars.  Most often, we are in a HOLD on large expenditures at the end of the year because we are dependent on high retail velocity in May to make the budget work.  Since the MU budget is 52% revenue funded, it puts us in a situation where we are never assured of how the fiscal year will turn out, until we see the last two months of the year through to the end.

• For comparison, of the PAC 12 colleges, eight have higher student fees than Oregon State University, the highest being UCLA at $1,718 per term equivalent per student.  Over the last 5 years tuition has increased by about 30% while student fees have dropped by about 3% over the same time.
• The OSU Memorial Union organization generates 52% of its operating budget and receives 48% from student fees.  In comparison, University of Oregon receives 51% of its operating budget from student fees (and their leadership center, civic engagement center on in separate budgets) and Portland State receives 61% of its budget from student fees.