Attending the annual American Institute of Graphic Arts portfolio review is a crucial part of the year for senior graphics design majors. The event allows students to have their work critiqued by professionals in the field, thus increasing their potential for future employment.

But this year, some students won’t be able to go. They can’t afford it, and the university doesn’t have any mechanism for funding student travel for Designers Inc., Eau Claire’s graphic design organization.

Student Senate wants to create a student travel fund and took the next step toward doing so at its Monday meeting.

Senate passed a bill to form a student travel fund committee, which will explore the option of creating such a fund, Senator Nate Otto said. Many Minnesota and Wisconsin schools have student travel funds, he said.

Senior Rachel Waddell is the events coordinator for Designers Inc. The organization exhausted every possible option in trying to get funding for the trip to the Twin Cities, she said.

“We did all we could to get funding,” Waddell said. “But now a lot of students can’t go.”

Between food, lodging and other considerations, costs for the weekend conference could easily exceed $100, Waddell said. The organization has done independent fundraising, but still finds itself short, she said.

Senate is sympathetic to the organization’s plight, Otto said, but there was little it could do to fund the trip under the finance commission’s existing bylaws.

Student segregated fees would be used for the travel fund, Otto said, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those fees would increase.

“There’s nothing certain about this yet,” Otto said.

Nonetheless, Otto thinks student response will be favorable, he said.

Waddell said she agreed. She wishes steps had been taken toward establishing a fund sooner, she said.

The committee will consist entirely of students and will submit its first report by Nov. 1.