The Student Government Association Finance Committee is preparing to begin the
annual primary funding process, which will allocate funds to student organizations for the 2011-
2012 fiscal year.
The process is headed by senior international business major Robert Mutschler, SGA
Vice President of Finance, who communicates with group representatives in a workshop for club
presidents and treasurers. After the initial meetings, groups submit their funding applications to
the finance committee for review.
“They’ll turn in their applications. The finance committee goes over their applications,
using the rules in the treasurers’ manual, which is posted online, as well as discretionary
guidelines,” Mutschler said.
After the first review, students can appeal for more funding before the applications go to
the legislature for final approval. Money from the $31.50 student activities fee — which is paid
by every student — then provides for the budget.
According to the SGA website, after last year’s primary process, SGA allocated
$1,288,784.00 for the current school year. This number accounted for “about 49.17% of the
approximately $2,620,954.13 requested by 248 student organizations.”
Mutschler said the student activities fee “routinely” falls short of supplying all of the
funds requested by student organizations.
“And that’s why, in conjunction with SEE and the Director of Student Groups, we are
going to be requesting an increase to the Student Activities Fee this year,” he said. “It will be in
the single digits.”
Mutschler said watching changes in the size of organizations is an important part of the
budgeting process, citing The Love Movement as a group that has grown significantly in the past
year.
“We did apply for funds last semester, and we did get some funds. We got about $650,”
said The Love Movement’s Treasurer, senior economics major Robert Argento, who applied for
the group’s first budget in the fall. “If we had more, we could have done more. If we had less, we
could have found a way to make it work. It’s just sort of a process of making the best of what we
get.”
Argento said that he hopes to be more familiar with the primary process this semester in
order to secure more funds for his group.
However, the budgeting process can be more challenging for smaller student
organizations, like Hamsa, Maryland’s Jewish LGBTQQIA group. Hamsa’s treasurer, junior
aerospace engineering major Elishabet Lato, said SGA made cuts to guest speaker fee allotments
across the board by 50% in last spring’s primary process. She said that such cuts hurt her group,
which relies heavily on guest speakers, as well as other small organizations on campus.
“I know they have to make cuts, but it always seems like it shouldn’t affect groups that
can’t cope with it,” she said. “I don’t think it’s much use to fund part of an event, honestly.”
All budget applications are due no later than Feb. 22, and student organizations will
receive funding from the SGA starting in July, which begins the next fiscal year.