Student services at many Commonwealth Campuses this year are standing on wobbly legs since losing the crutch that used to support them -- the student enhancement fund.

The fund was established in 1985 to set aside money specifically for student services. It came from a tuition hike at the Commonwealth Campuses, which narrowed the gap between those campuses' tuition and tuition at University Park. Last year, the fund was folded into the general funds budget -- leaving the money up for grabs.

Although the money is not set aside for student services now, funds are generally still spent in those areas, said Tom Eakin, assistant vice president for student affairs. But most of the campuses are under budgetary constraints, he said.

The money was folded into campus budgets with the expectation that it remain directed toward funding student services.

"That hasn't necessarily been the case," he said. "There have been some fairly significant declines in some locations."

Each campus decides how to spend that money, but Eakin said they need to balance reductions so students will still want to come to the Commonwealth Campuses.

The Commonwealth Educational System suffered a 5 percent drop in enrollment this year and offers for fall 1994 admission are down about 2 percent so far.

"There's no question, the enhancement fund greatly increased support in academic support, student life areas and intramurals," Eakin said. "I think we have to certainly be concerned that the reduction in these kinds of services and experiences make it harder to compete with our competitors."

Ben Stevenson, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments coordinator, said the cuts cripple student morale and hurt retention.

"We sit here and we wonder why we lose all these students," he said. "Yet, we're still not putting in an investment to keeping students there."

Not all Commonwealth Campuses have been affected by the enhancement fund's elimination. Pat Rose, director of student affairs at Worthington Scranton Campus, said the campus executive officer there has tried to keep funds coming to student services.

But Jeffrey Butler, DuBois Campus student government president, said his campus has been affected.

"As far as on our campus, being that we're one of the smaller ones, we've noticed a decrease in a lot of our intramurals," he said.

Joe Spado, Hazleton Campus student government president, also said many clubs at Hazleton Campus have suffered from a decrease in funding.

Stevenson said folding the enhancement fund into the general budget stemmed from University Future Committee recommendations. The committee proposed 10 percent budget cuts University-wide during a three-year period beginning last fall.

Folding in the fund also allows individual campuses to manage and control funds spent there, Eakin said.