$15,000 of SBAC funds too late for RSO use
The Student Budget Allocation Committee has more than $15,000 left over in its combined budgets.
However, Registered Student Organizations who still intended to apply for funding for an event will have to push their plans to the fall semester.
"Four weeks from now puts us into early May, and everyone will be gone by then," said Brittany Mouzourakis, Student Government Association vice president and chair of SBAC.
She said because of SBAC bylaws, RSOs have to apply for funding four weeks in advance. SBAC financially assists RSOs in sponsoring events and conferences, requires applicants to apply for funding at least four weeks before the event is scheduled to take place.
Mouzourakis, a Garden City junior, said the SBAC currently has a balance of $4,573 in the conferences budget and $11,114 in the projects budget.
Mouzourakis, who is in her last semester as chairwoman, said SBAC still is taking requests for funding, but they will more than likely be denied.
"To be fair to all the RSOs, we need to stick to the rules we've gone by all year," she said.
She said SBAC does not want to deviate from the bylaws, and so funding usually is not distributed this late.
"Unless they're doing some summer conference, they wouldn't be eligible for funding," she said.
Mouzourakis said the amount SBAC has is a little skewed because when RSOs charge admission for an event, they are required to pay SBAC back.
"We just got a lot of money put back in our account," she said.
SGA Treasurer Sean Nolan said SBAC funds which are left over each year are returned to the campus programming fund.
"The campus programming fund is allocated $800,000 each year by the dean of students, regardless of how much rollover there is from the previous year," said Nolan, a Muskegon senior.
Nolan also said it is not uncommon to have left-over funding at the end of an academic year.
"It really depends on the student groups," he said. "In the past few years, they have requested less money from the Campus Program Fund, but it fluctuates from year to year."
The SBAC is a constitutional committee of the SGA and receives funding from the campus programming fund. That money then is split into two parts - one for projects and one for conferences.
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