(Photo by Michael Galkovsky)

Faced with an increase in students reporting sexual assault cases, the University of Maryland’s Title IX office says it is struggling to keep up. And the school is now considering a seemingly unprecedented move to help with the staffing shortfall: a mandatory annual fee.

Reports of sexual misconduct jumped from 112 in the 2014-2015 school year to 243 last year, Buzzfeed reports. Each investigation averages 140 business days, which the school’s first Title IX compliance officer, Catherine Carroll, called unacceptable.

Telling the outlet that the office is “burned out,” Carroll has said the office’s $1 million budget isn’t enough to handle the rising number of reports, compliance training for university staff, and additional rape prevention efforts—and that the university isn’t stepping up with the needed funds.

So, the school may soon turn to the same students who may be experiencing civil rights violations and sexual assaults to fund the office.

The undergraduate student government approved the new $34 annual charge, though there are still several steps and approvals required before it could be officially implemented.

“The university has failed in their responsibility to fully fund this office,” junior A.J. Pruitt, who sponsored the measure, told Buzzfeed. “By putting in a proposal to add an additional fee — that’s placing another financial burden on students. It’s not something I’m excited about, but it gets us to fully funding the office in a short amount of time.”

If enacted, the fee would provide the office with an additional $900,000 a year. Carroll says that funding would go to a deputy, two more investigators, and a staffer to handle rape prevention programming.

Title IX consultants described the proposed fee, funded through the student government, as highly unusual, saying “the responsibility is on the institution.”