RSOs request over $380,000

Student Activity Budget Committee has $154,000 to allocate this year

This year the Student Activity Budget Committee received $385,886.17 in funding requests from on-campus Registered Student Organizations. According to SABC chair Zach Mullins, the committee only has $154,080 to allocate this year.

To help with the disparity between funds requested and funds on hand, SABC has requested a $4 increase to the student activity fee for the 2011-2012 academic year. The Georgia Legislature and then the Board of Regents must approve the fee before being implemented in the Fall.

“We’re not sure what is going to be decided by the Board of Regents on the fee increase,” Mullins said. “What we’ve decided to do is we’re not going to make any of our budgets finalized until after the decision is made. We’re creating five different budgets—a zero dollar (increase), a $1, $2, $3 and a $4 which is a little bit redundant, but will allow us flexibility.”

Last year $963,000 was brought in through the fee. Ten percent of the funds are kept in an unallocated reserve. Forty-five percent goes to Campus Life; six percent goes to The GIVE Center. SGA receives eight percent and six percent is allocated to the Campus Activities Board. The remaining 25 percent is what SABC allocates to organizations.

According to Chief Budget Officer Susan Allen, a $4 increase would generate approximately an additional $46,000 in funds next year. In case the $4 fee is not approved, Mullins has asked all 48 of the RSOs that requested funds to be prepared to cut their requests by 25 or 50 percent.

Last year there were 32 different requests to SABC. This year, the number of requests increased by over 60 to 48 percent.

“We’ve had more requests this year than last year. From glancing at everything, a majority of them are requesting either an increase in funding or are first-time requests,” Mullins said. “Overall, (the increase in requests are) attributed to an increase in student activities.”

SABC also allocates money to campus activities or areas that are primarily for students such as aerobics classes, The DEN and the Centennial Center.

“(The Centennial Center) money goes to provide access to students during non-normal hours,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Paul Jahr.

This year the SABC process was done completely online using OrgSync. According to Mullins, the process saved over 2,600 sheets of paper.

“From my perspective I think that it was much better (using OrgSync),” Mullins said. “I really enjoyed seeing them trickle in one at a time…rather than a stack being put on my desk.”

Posted by Matt Chambers on Apr 7 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.