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SG awaits decision on budget from administration Student The annual budget bill, which includes the $1.375 million endowment, has yet to be fully approved. develops health care app By Jesse Stokes M A N A G I N G
E D I T O R
An annual budget bill proposed by the Activity & Service Fee Recommendation Committee (ASRC) has been signed and approved by Student Body President, Moneer Kheireddine and is awaiting approval or disapproval from university administration. However, one controversial line item of the bill still remains: the $1.375 million endowment. According to Sen. Yousef Afifi, the endowment ad hoc committee chairman, the endowment is an investment account with the purpose of managing funds to ensure fiscal The annual budget bill includes an endowment that may be line-item vetoed meaning $1.375 million sustainability and as such, would go into Student Government’s unallocated cash account. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN would serve to accommodate things such as rising costs and vested authority to work around route, we aren’t going to have Bank, SunTrust Bank, BB&T inflation. the endowment’s percentage any money,” Afifi said. Bank and Northwestern Mutual. If Afifi’s proposed endowment allocations and what have you,” In a message to The Oracle, Afifi points to a lack of were to be passed as is, he said Afifi said. 58th term Senate President communication between Senate he would be ready to get right If members of administration Amani Taha said if the and university administration to work, including the creation decide to line-item veto the endowment were to be line- as one of the main challenges of “Student Investment Steering endowment, however, Afifi said item vetoed at this point, the throughout the process of Committee” that would manage it would be back to the drawing proposed $1.375 million could creating the endowment. not be reallocated, as the time “One thing that we feel like for that has passed and as has been a huge issue for us The environment as it sits right now is not such the funds would sit in the is a lack of communication a very proactive one; it is a reactive one. unallocated cash account for that we have gotten and a lack Yousef Afifi, Senator the next fiscal year. of feedback,” Afifi said. “The As a part of preparing for environment as it sits right now the endowment account. board. the endowment, Afifi also said is not a very proactive one; it is a “There actually was a Senate “My thinking would be to try he and other senators met reactive one. So, with something bill passed a couple of weeks and coordinate with individuals with a number of banks and like the endowment, we do not ago … that creates a functional who disagreed with the idea financial institutions to weigh get administration’s support or group, similar to ASRC that of it so that we can work out the benefits that each would guidance on it until … they tell would manage the inner a framework to create some provide should they be chosen us that we can’t do it.” workings of this endowment, type of method for financial to host the account that holds However, Dean of Students that would manage progress sustainability so that we can the proposed $1.375 million. Danielle McDonald has in reports as to how the account offset our diminishing account, According to Afifi, such the past proposed a flat fee, is doing, it would be given the because if we keep going at this institutions include Chase n See ENDOWMENT on PAGE 3
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By Matthew Cutillo S T A F F
W R I T E R
A current USF student has developed CareValet, a free service that helps connect consumers with health care providers in logical and simple ways. Joseph Hodges, founder of CareValet and soon to be graduate of the USF Muma College of Business, began his company after realizing his passion for consumer transparency. “There’s a lack of transparency in the marketplace and because of that I thought I’d be able help get some legislature put in place that will require transparency in the industry,” Hodges said. “However, it was futile because there’s too many other political agendas at play and there’s a strong lobbying component that prevents any transparency in health care from coming forward.” After taking notice of how other industries reached further levels of transparency, Hodges said he decided to take elements from different sources to create his own new business. “I was looking at other industries and how they’ve been disrupted and I saw that
n See APP on PAGE 3