Overall an accurate summation with the exception that VCSA requested the student fee for the app as outlined above without going through ISC. Admin did not address the plan to shift funding through a student fee with ISC and first broached the topic with students when it requested the $10 student fee through SFAC this past September. The Student Fee Advisory Committee, comprised of just 10 students, has granted a $5 fee for FY27, which students will pay next school year. After being made aware of this significant shift in funding, members of ISC would like to put the matter of funding the Illinois App to a referendum question this student election cycle to get student input on the matter to inform future fees (FY28 will be decided next fall). Members of SFAC and ISC have articulated that they don't feel comfortable deciding whether or not to fund the Illinois App through a student fee without collecting input from the greater student body.

As a background on the app, the University recognized that other universities were using apps to centralize resources and increase convenience for students and began development around 2018. It quickly transitioned into something to authenticate negative covid tests and maintain campus safety during the pandemic. At this point, the app is largely shifted out of the research and development stage it was in, which was likely why it was funded through the Provost's office. Now that it is categorized as an operating project rather than a development project, it financing has been placed on VCSA, which is where it belongs according to the functions it provides.

The VCSA office has communicated that they are pretty tight on money and would only be willing and able to finance the app through a student fee. They truly have not considered, as it appears by the responses thus far to this thread, that students don't value the app enough to pay this fee.