The university administration seems to have taken “bait and switch” to an unprecedented level.

UW taxes students several hundred dollars in segregated fees every year, monies earmarked to be spent on various student organizations, as determined by the Student Service Finance Committee.

But almost every student group falls short of its budgeted spending, whether it be because it rained on the day of a trash pickup, saving operation expenses or a because a certain officer was not hired until later than expected, saving months’ worth of paychecks.

As reported in this newspaper, approximately $1 million annually goes unspent for these reasons.

This surplus is not returned to students in the form of a logical rebate or routed back to SSFC in the form of a sensible deduction from future segregated fees. No, these monies disappear into the vast wasteland formally known as Bascom.

In the upcoming ASM elections, students will be provided a chance to vote on a referendum that would give SSFC authority over these funds. And while we applaud the notion of finally putting the surplus back in the hands of students, it seems that this plan still falls a step too short.

When students pay their segregated fees, they are paying for the services already chosen by SSFC. Given, students are not allowed a choice as to whether to pick up this bill, but at least they are aware (or so they thought) of where their funds are headed.

It is only logical that any surplus from these funds be returned to students. And while we recognize SSFC to be a group representative of students, the reality is that when money of this sort — dollars significant enough to ease the cost of textbooks and tuition for some — is at play, the proper place for it is in students’ pockets.

The current system only bills students for segregated fees after SSFC makes its budgetary decisions for the year. This is no mistake; the process allows students knowledge of where their fees are headed. But should the surplus be returned to SSFC, students would be, in essence, trusting the committee with their money without prior knowledge or consent.

So we encourage the vast bureaucracies that are Bascom and ASM to swallow their greed, invest in a roll of stamps and start sending students refund checks. The time has come to render unto students what is students’.