After five meetings and a little more than two weeks, the University’s Fee Review Committee is prepared to finalize its recommendation on next year’s fee increases before the Friday deadline.

And this year, it’ll make that decision with an extra piece of information: the input of more than 1,000 students.

After hearing from the last group requesting a fee increase Tuesday, members of the committee said they were interested in examining the results of Student Government’s fee referendum before they cast their votes on fees during their Thursday meeting.

Committee Co-chair and Student Senate President Greg Doucette said he would give the group a paper version of the Senate’s fee recommendation as well as the results of the referendum, released early this morning.

But Tom Stafford, co-chair and vice chancellor for student affairs, reminded group members that their charge was to evaluate the information given by the groups requesting fee increases and to “make your own judgment.”

“The students who voted on the referendum have not by any means had the information we have had,” Stafford said. “It would be difficult to make an informed vote without that information.”

Although Stafford acknowledged that the referendum did include links to the exact wording of the fee increase proposal, he questioned “how many students actually exercised that link.”

“They have not had the benefit of this full discussion,” Stafford said.

Provost Larry Nielsen, who appeared before the committee to justify the educational and technology fee, began the meeting by reviewing the old strategy for requesting increases for the fee. He said that in the past, his office would only request large increases after the fee was kept constant for several years.

“I don’t know why that strategy was used, but it was,” Nielsen said.

With next year’s fee increases capped at 6.5 percent by the UNC Board of Governors, he said this process was no longer possible.

“We really need the money,” Nielsen said. “We need a new strategy with the cap in place.”

The ETF fee pays for the campus-wide computing infrastructure and equipment for classrooms and labs. The proposal would increase the fee by $23, to $377 per year.

In addition to funding and planning for legislative salary increases, Nielsen said the increase would pay for the maintenance of existing services, like technology-equipped classrooms. Even the east wing of the library, which opened in March, needs maintenance, he said.

“It already is in need of restoration and repair for what’s there,” he said.

Nielsen pointed out that the proposal, which would bring in an additional $590,000, was less than he would have personally suggested.

“Had I had the chance to look at it, it would have been $40, not $23,” Nielsen said. “The size of this request is equal to the proportion of the cap. What we’ve done, as I see it, is ask for the fair share.”

Addressing the committee at the end of the meeting, Stafford explained that the committee would need to cut down $90.35 worth of fee proposals to the $69.29 limit set by the Board of Governors.

“It’s going to be a real challenge,” Stafford said. “This is a discussion about which every penny counts — every penny.”

In Thursday’s meeting, committee members will haggle over each of the recommendations to reach a majority agreement. The committee will vote on the six fee proposals falling under the cap down to the penny. But Stafford said the transit and health center expansion fees, which are exempt from the cap, would be “go or no-go.”

In an interview after the meeting, Stafford said this year’s committee was the best he’s ever worked with in five or six years of heading up the process.

He said that although the cap does provide “some level of predictability” to parents and students, it often means tough decisions for the committee.

“It means we’re going to have to cut back on some desperately needed fees and some which I believe are completely justified,” Stafford said.

Stafford said what committee members, and students, must understand is that fee-dependent groups need to request more funding as costs go up.

“When students vote against fees, what that means is that they’re voting for a reduction in the level of service,” Stafford said.

The committee will submit its recommendation to Chancellor James L. Oblinger Friday.