Last year's approved fee increase was $5 per student.
Triponey said some of the money from the fee will go to the Fee Allocation Board (FAB), which will begin hearings this semester to distribute money to big budget items like the Bryce Jordan Center, the Student Programming Association and the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC).
Greg Heleniak, UPAC chairman, said he feels the increase is necessary to fund a university as large as Penn State.
"The base of money we are working from is considerably small compared to any university our size," he said.
"The activity fee needs to go up to sustain the culture we have known to appreciate here at University Park."
Triponey said Penn State's fee is low compared to other universities.
"Many are $200 to $300 per year to fund," she said.
"Penn State really behaves like a private school when it comes to our fees. Private schools tuck it into tuition."
Student activity fees for state-related schools range from $35 per semester for Temple University, $160 per year for University of Pittsburgh and $197 per year for Lincoln University.
Gov. Ed Rendell's 2007-2008 budget proposal, announced yesterday, proposed a slight increase in funding for Penn State.
However, the student activity fee increase could change when the final state appropriations are released.
"That increase is taken along the lines of the whole budget model and what they would like to see, appropriations-wise," CCSG President Jerry Livingston said.
Even the student activity fee is something that gets picked up and torn apart by legislators."
Livingston said he foresees the proposed increase fluctuating between $7 to $10 in upcoming months.
Stan Latta, director of unions and student activities, estimates that, based on the number of students who pay the full activity fee, an extra $725,000 could be generated for FAB in the next school year.
Heleniak added that this increase is especially significant for the Commonwealth campuses.
"Their need is more pressing because they have a smaller basis of money to work with, but it can only serve to improve things at University Park," he said.
"It has been discussed for a number of years."
Sean Kelly, director of student affairs at Penn State Altoona, said he is in favor of the proposal for a $10 increase.
"There are 4,000 students at Altoona, and we have a tremendous out-of-class experience," he said.
"The price at University Park is the same for Altoona for any one event."
The tiers of the proposed fee will be discussed at the SAFB meeting at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in 233 HUB.
