Understanding appropriations, how groups got money

Every semester, students pay student-activity fees, and every semester students wonder who spends their money and for what. Some of it goes to groups such as the Student Media Commission, while the SGA Appropriations Committee allocates one-third of the $45 student-activity-fee funds to student organizations.

Timothy Reed, SGA’s budget adviser, said before allocating funds the committee asks one question: “Will VCU students be direct beneficiaries?”

The appropriations committee, which is the financial arm of the SGA, bases its decisions on at least five factors:

*The number of VCU students who can participate or benefit

*The admission charge, if any, for the event

*The group’s presentation to the committee

*The completion of the organization’s registration and completed paperwork

*The group’s representation at the presidential roundtable.

Still, organizations may not receive the amount requested because of money shortages.

The last, but one of the most important items on the list, started this semester. Last year’s senators decided that a representative from an organization can miss only one SGA Presidential Roundtable meeting and remain eligible for student-activity-fee funds.

“If paperwork is not submitted properly,” Reed said, “it can be one of the reasons the appropriations committee can immediately reject (a request).”

As far as the other funding issues, Reed and the Senate want to ensure that many students can participate in an event because this indicates that the money can be used by as diverse a group as possible. Similarly, the budget committee serves as a screening committee.

If an organization charges admission for its event, then the event partially funds itself, which means the group may need less money than others sponsoring free events. For instance, a group can charge admission for a dance or a dinner it sponsors to pay part of the bill.

After Sesha Moon, the Black Caucus’ president, spoke at SGA budget committee’s Sept. 24 meeting, she later said her organization would appeal the decision if it did not receive the funding it needed.

“First we would have an appeal once again to the appropriations committee,” Moon said. “If not through them, then (we would) take it to the steering committee through SGA.”

After that meeting, Moon said having co-sponsored events would help with the caucus’ potential financial woes.

Still, other groups directly associated with a department or program might look for other solutions.

“We would go directly to our department and get the money directly from our department if they’ll give us the money,” said Bryan Rhodes, treasurer for the Graduate Organization of Biology Students.

Reed strongly advocates organizations send representatives to a budget workshop. This way, he said, the representative knows the exact information needed to receive the highest funding possible.

“They need to have all kinds of specific documentation to back up specific dollar requests,” Reed said.

Excess money “rolls over” into a special account when technicalities arise for groups having allocated funds on hand, or when a group does not use its allocated money by the year’s end.

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