The Undergraduate Student Association Council takes great pride
in providing resources for the student body, including student
organizational funding. Within the past few years, the student
organizational funding-allocation process has undergone many
beneficial changes.
In summer 2004, the funding process was opened to all student
organizations, and USAC was able to fund the most student
organizations in history. Along with this victory also came
challenges, including a lack of sufficient funds to allocate to all
groups who applied.
Fortunately, the 2004-2005 Constitutional Review Committee
evaluated the funding process and established a new system in
spring 2005 that enabled council to meet the needs of more
organizations. A new source of funding, known as the Student
Organizations Operational Fund, replaced the former Base Budget
process and resulted in the following improvements:
1. Established quarterly funding cycles. This increases access
to operational funds by allowing organizations to apply for funding
each quarter, as opposed to once at the beginning of the school
year. This offers all organizations the opportunity to improve
their applications each quarter based on feedback from the Budget
Review Committee.
2. Increased amount of funds available to all student
organizations. The creation of the Student Organizations
Operational Fund specifically set aside more money for
organizations’ operational needs; therefore, USAC was able to
fund more student organizations. Concurrently, the SAFE referendum
increased funding available in the USA/BOD Programming Fund.
3. Implemented thorough evaluation system. By asking
organizations to evaluate their expenditures and budgeting process
each quarter, the Budget Review Committee will better understand
organizations’ needs and fund management abilities and in
turn, allocate funds most appropriately.
In addition to the changes made by the Constitutional Review
Committee last year, the funding process underwent more beneficial
changes under the leadership of this year’s Budget Review
director, including a new funding formula. Although the former
system used by previous Budget Review Committee was fair, it did
not accommodate the large number of organizations applying for
funding because it was heavily dependent on the line-item
priorities of each organization. This system worked well when
allocating funding for a smaller number of organizations because it
met specific line-item needs. However, with dozens more groups
applying for funding, it is not efficient or feasible to allocate
funds based on these specific needs. Therefore, the Budget Review
Committee implemented a new formula that lumps an
organization’s line-item requests into one sum and therefore
allows the committee to allocate funds with greater flexibility to
more organizations.
In addition, the Budget Review Committee posted the score sheets
online for all groups to reference prior to submitting their
proposal and attending their hearings.
The funding improvements made this year, as well as those made
in spring 2005, resulted in a significant increase in the number of
organizations receiving funding, a trend consistent with the past
few years of USAC allocations.
Furthermore, this new funding transparency has helped council
demonstrate its neutrality. In fact, even with a very different
makeup of councilmembers, it is important to note that many of the
organizations that received high scores in the past were also given
high scores this year. This reaffirms that fact that USAC funding
is not biased, but rather a process that is consistently based on
the quality of an organization’s proposal and hearing and
organizational need.
USAC looks forward to continuing to improve the funding process
and welcomes any suggestions on how to go about doing so. On Oct.
23, USAC will host its first Student Advisory Council meeting, a
space designed to channel suggestions from student organizations
into policy changes. USAC encourages each organization to
participate in this body in order continue to improve our
funding-allocation process, as well as to work together to create
more student-friendly policies throughout the university.
Please e-mail USAC Budget Review Director Diem Tran with any
concerns, suggestions or questions at [email protected].