Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) can apply for funding every semester by submitting requests to the Budget Oversight Committee, according to the Student Allocation Funding Manual. 

RSOs can ask for up to $4,000 for programs they want to host, like an event on campus. Up to $1,500 is available for traveling expenses, like airfare to attend an out of state convention, the manual reads. 

“The Budget Oversight Committee is a committee of the Senate branch, SGA, and is made up of three SGA senators,” said Rachel Gandy, SGA Senator and Budget Oversight Committee member. “The committee also includes one faculty advisor and two staff members who handle the money and technicalities of the requests.”

Gandy said she chose to be on the Budget Oversight Committee because she wanted to know where the money was going.

“I asked to be assigned to the Budget Oversight Committee because I wanted to get an inside look on how the student activity fee was being used,” Gandy said.

Students are charged a student activity fee of $27 each semester and a portion of that money goes to the Budget Oversight Committee to fund RSO expenses, according to the manual. Each semester the amount of money allocated varies each year.

“Since the amount of students enrolled at the university varies every semester, the dollar amount of funding the Budget Oversight Committee has to distribute changes from semester to semester,” said Robby Thompson, SGA Senator and Budget Oversight Committee member.

RSOs can apply for some of the student allocation funding if three members of the organization attended training at the beginning of the semester. Any RSO can apply for funding as long as they had representatives attend training, the manual states.

“We require RSOs to have members attend training because all of the paperwork submitted has to be correct in order for the request to be approved,” said Director of Student Engagement, Tammy Jacques.

RSOs must request allocation money through OrgSync and provide documentation for all of the expenses they are requesting. If there are missing documents or the paperwork was not submitted correctly, the request will be denied, the manual reads. 

“Once a request is denied, a RSO cannot submit the same request again,” Jacques said. “If students aren’t trained on how to submit paperwork, they run the risk of not being able to attend or put on an event.”

If a student submits a request and did not attend training, their submission will not be approved. The members who attended training are required to submit the request, the manual reads. 

The funding provided is beneficial to RSOs because they can host campus wide events and attend conferences that are beneficial and educational to their organization. RSOs can only use funding to host events if all students are invited to attend, the manual reads. 

“I wanted to help put a face to the Budget Oversight Committee so students can feel free to come up to me and ask questions on how to properly fill out the application or ask questions about the process,” Gandy said. “I love my committee and can definitely say that we are fair and are using the money more wisely.”

The committee reviews each request in the order it is submitted and checks all of the paperwork and documents submitted. If there is an issue, the committee will discuss it and then vote on whether to approve or deny the request, the manual reads. 

A majority vote decides if the allocation funding will be approved. Once all of the allocation money is spent, RSOs will have to wait until the next semester to apply again, the manual reads.