At the Jan. 29 formal meeting, the Student Government Association (SGA) voted to change the budgeting system for the 2018-2019 academic year to a “no-cap” system, allowing for student organization funds to be determined on need and the discretion of the SGA finance committee.
“This system is in place to try and really ask student groups to think about what they want to do in the following academic year,” Riley Keffer, vice president of finance said. “No limits, what do you want to do? What are your goals? What’s your vision?”
Under the previous system, organizations could request up to a set amount per year, typically starting at $500. According to Keffer, under the previous system, this “capped” system limited some organizations as to what events and programs they could plan.
“What we found was that some groups were requesting funds just because they were eligible and they didn’t really have a purpose for them, and then we also found that other groups who really wanted to do a lot with their budgets and be really present on campus and have good events going on and worthwhile programming were really limited by that amount,” Keffer said.
The budgeting process for the upcoming academic year will mostly involve CORE for finding files and uploading documents. According to Keffer, this method gives SGA more autonomy than D2L, which was used in the past, to create their own process. SGA’s CORE page includes a how-to guide and example budget.
After completing the budget form on CORE, an officer of an SGA-recognized organization must schedule a meeting with a member of the SGA finance committee via a sign-up form located outside the SGA office in the Smith Student Center. One-on-one sessions will take place Feb. 19-March 9. There are also open sessions from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Feb. 22, March 1 and March 8.
After the one-on-one session and any necessary revisions are completed, the organization officer will need to turn a signed physical copy of the form to the Cooperative Activities Office in SSC 238 and an online copy via CORE. The deadline for final copies is March 9 at 4:30 p.m.
Student organizations will receive notification of their budgets on March 24 after the finance committee reviews the budget as part of the final approval.
