The students, staff, and faculty of Auraria - from CCD, MSUD, and UCD - are joining together to call on our respective administrations and AHEC to allocate the funds needed to run a participatory budgeting process on campus in which students can spend at least $50,000 of our tuition and fees on projects and initiatives that students believe are important in the 2020-21 school year. With the expense of staffing a PB process and providing stipends to student leaders who drive the process, this would mean the 2020-21 Auraria PB process needs approximately $90,000-$100,000 total.

As students, we spend an exorbitant amount of money each year, with student tuition and fees making up nearly under two thirds of the Auraria institutions' collective operating budgets. Student money pays the staff, faculty, and administration's salaries. Students fund the campus programs. Student dollars keep the lights on at Auraria. And that is why we believe that students should have a greater role in making decisions about how our money is spent.

We, the undersigned members of the Auraria community - in light of the successful 2018 Auraria Participatory Budgeting (PB) process that saw students democratically spend $43,000 on campus - are signng this petition to call on Auraria administrations and staff to allocate money toward a second, student-led participatory budgeting process, and to call for them to institutionalize PB on campus into the future.

Making PB a regular feature of Auraria campus life supports democracy, student voice, and campus collaboration at Auraria. We believe that participatory budgeting is a powerful way to realize these ideals, not to mention it provides real life skills and opportunities to learn beyond the classroom to students who participate. We want our respective institutions to commit annual funds that will institutionalize a participatory budgeting process on campus, starting with the funds needed to run a $50,000 process next year.

To learn more about Auraria Participatory Budgeting please visit www.AurariaPB.org.