2008 Woodie Awards
Student requests deplete SGA fund
By: Mallory Skinner
Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: News
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On April 3, the Student Government Association convened to discuss possible solutions to its recent financial woes.
"As many of you know, we are really low on funds," President Gabe Bullard said.
Bullard announced that, last week, he sent a letter to David Garafola, Webster's vice president for finance, requesting $20,000 be added to next year's SGA Allocation Fund. He said he has not yet received a response from Garafola.
"For the rest of this school year, we will make due with what we have left in our coffers," Bullard said.
SGA's coffers include $121 in Student Grant Fund money, the funds used to send student organizations on group trips, and less than $2,000 in the programming pool used to finance campus events and activities. The Student Grant Fund had $17,000 at the beginning of the school year.
Meanwhile, the Allocation Fund, from which money is often borrowed to finance the College Readership Program and student trips, has a balance of $2,900.
"The Student Grant Fund and the programming pool are the two areas that are really running out," Comptroller Mac Ingram said. "Funds are kind of low, but they're not gone."
Struggling to meet the monetary requests of student groups and pay the bill for the College Readership Program, SGA's funds have slowly been depleted. Ingram attributed the depletion, in part, to the large number of student grant requests SGA was bombarded with during the fall semester.
"So many organizations submitted really convincing proposals for trips," Ingram said. "We wound up giving out more money than we anticipated."
As a result, during this spring semester, SGA has been forced to siphon at least 10 percent off each student grant request. In March, the Anime Society requested $1,500 from SGA to fund a trip to an anime convention in Illinois and received $500. In the same month, Habitat for Humanity New Orleans Louisiana received $1,000 of the $1,500 it requested. Meanwhile, Students in Free Enterprise asked for $1,500 to send members to a conference in Tennessee and was given $725.
"As many of you know, we are really low on funds," President Gabe Bullard said.
Bullard announced that, last week, he sent a letter to David Garafola, Webster's vice president for finance, requesting $20,000 be added to next year's SGA Allocation Fund. He said he has not yet received a response from Garafola.
"For the rest of this school year, we will make due with what we have left in our coffers," Bullard said.
SGA's coffers include $121 in Student Grant Fund money, the funds used to send student organizations on group trips, and less than $2,000 in the programming pool used to finance campus events and activities. The Student Grant Fund had $17,000 at the beginning of the school year.
Meanwhile, the Allocation Fund, from which money is often borrowed to finance the College Readership Program and student trips, has a balance of $2,900.
"The Student Grant Fund and the programming pool are the two areas that are really running out," Comptroller Mac Ingram said. "Funds are kind of low, but they're not gone."
Struggling to meet the monetary requests of student groups and pay the bill for the College Readership Program, SGA's funds have slowly been depleted. Ingram attributed the depletion, in part, to the large number of student grant requests SGA was bombarded with during the fall semester.
"So many organizations submitted really convincing proposals for trips," Ingram said. "We wound up giving out more money than we anticipated."
As a result, during this spring semester, SGA has been forced to siphon at least 10 percent off each student grant request. In March, the Anime Society requested $1,500 from SGA to fund a trip to an anime convention in Illinois and received $500. In the same month, Habitat for Humanity New Orleans Louisiana received $1,000 of the $1,500 it requested. Meanwhile, Students in Free Enterprise asked for $1,500 to send members to a conference in Tennessee and was given $725.
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