SGA officials: Group funds not enough

New student groups looking to the SGA for help may have to wait until additional funding becomes available, as the emergency cash usually reserved for student organizations has diminished substantially since last year.

The Student Government Association's Group Help Fund serves to assist student groups that are financially unable to launch or continue their programs, and the SGA can grant struggling groups up to $500 once every school year. This year, that allotment contains about a quarter of the amount it held last year, and the deficit will jeopardize the creation and continuation of many student groups, SGA officials said.

"There is a good chance that it could run out by October," Vice President of Finance Rob Mutschler said.

He added that the SGA is considering rationing the money to prevent the account from completely drying up, but approved student groups will continue to be funded on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"My advice to all student groups this year would be to be more fiscally responsible," said SGA Finance Committee co-chairperson Cindy Weng, who explained that the Group Help Fund should be an absolute last resort for student organizations. Weng said she does not expect the fund to be replenished until after groups receive secondary funding in the spring, if at all.

Though nearly $40,000 was set aside for the Group Help Fund last year, only 51 percent of groups that requested aid received it, Mutschler told legislators in the SGA's first meeting. This year, the fund currently contains $10,000, since the SGA voted Wednesday to add roughly another $5,000 from its legislative reserves.

Money reserved for appeals usually funnels back into the fund after groups have had a chance to petition the SGA for more money, said Mutschler. Last year, the SGA did not budget enough money for the appeals that it dealt out, he said, so it was forced to cut into funds that otherwise would have been used to help groups.

"Pretty much the only way to prevent this [from happening again] is for current and future [vice presidents] of finance to plan for more mistakes," Mutschler said in Wednesday's meeting.

If and when money in the Group Help Fund is allocated, more money will be left up to the legislators, said Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Crisalli.

"As of right now, I don't believe the money's there," she said. "Everyone's budgets have been cut a lot already. I was a member of the Finance Committee last year, and it was just really tight."

Although it has become more challenging for student groups to get traditional funding, Jacob Crider, vice president of the Coalition of Latino Students Organizations, said there are creative ways for groups to raise money to stay afloat, such as setting up tables at Stamp Student Union or running concession stands at athletic events. Crider's organization received primary funding, but he said he knows other groups that applied for group help and were denied, making it hard for them to survive.

"It's becoming difficult for new organizations to get off on the right foot and to gain support ... on campus," he said. "Unfortunately, that's just a sad truth that we have in terms of how the SGA is set up at the moment."

Crisalli said the process of applying for group help has not changed and that student organizations hoping to receive funding should visit the SGA's website for more information.

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