If all goes as planned for Undergraduate Council President Noah Z. Seton '00, undergraduates will soon pay a $50 term-bill fee a year instead of the $20 each student currently contributes to the council's budget.

Seton will bring legislation before the council at Sunday's meeting to propose an increase in the optional fee, which is automatically charged to student's term bills.

If passed by the council, Seton's legislation will be handed on to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, who says he supports a term bill increase and is widely expected to approve the measure.

The proposal would then have to be approved by the full Faculty.

Seton says the increase is necessary because of the recent proliferation of student groups on campus. The council spends most of its budget on grants it awards to student groups. With more organizations clamoring for council funding, individual slices of the budget pie are getting smaller and smaller.

Applications from student groups for council funding peaked this year at 170. Seton says that when he was a first-year, only 70 groups applied.

"We have to recognize that the term bill fee is low compared to that at other universities and hasn't changed in a decade. Meanwhile, prices have gone up and the number of student organizations have increased," Seton says.

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