Movies, games, tailgating and novelties. That’s what UPC has spent approximately 15 percent of their overall budget on during 2012-2013.

Each semester, students pay a $27 Student Activities Fee to the university. The fee automatically sets aside $2 for the Lion’s Den game room, and the remaining $25 divides among student allocation, leadership and volunteerism, and UPC, a division of the SGA.

“UPC gets about 45 percent of that $25,” said Laura Giles, SGA treasurer.

UPC has spent $20,503 of its $141,750 budget for the fiscal year, according to the organization’s February budget update.

Giles said she is responsible for creating and monitoring the budget throughout the year.

“The budget starts on October 1,” she said. “A lot of what is in the budget will be spent in August and September. 

UPC Vice President Jori Chatman said it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what UPC does.

“It’s hard to identify what UPC is,” she said. “We do so much on campus.”

SGA Chief of Staff KeKoria Greer said she agrees.

“When it comes to UPC, students may not know exactly who it is, but if you bring up a lot of the events they do, they’ll know what you’re talking about,” Greer said.

UPC is split into five committees: Movies and Novelties, Culture and Education, Live Acts, Service, and Spirit, officials said. Each committee has their own line in the budget, with Live Acts allotted $75,000 — the largest portion of the overall budget.

There is no dollar amount yet on what will be spent for the spring concert, but Aaron Lovelady, chairman of the Live Acts committee, reported to UPC members the tentative double headliner show with Phillip Phillips and Mat Kearney will be under budget, according to the Jan. 28 UPC meeting minutes.

The Spirit committee is allotted $20,000 for the fiscal year, and the committee has currently spent $3,962.35, according to budget documents.

“The Spirit committee handles all of the tailgating at every football game, as well as two baseball games and one softball game,” Giles said. “They feed a guaranteed 100 students at each tailgate.

“They also take care of the banners, bows and T-shirts during Purple Reign week. This year, they took care of Foamapalooza and Laserpalooza.”

The $15,000 line for the Movies and Novelties committee has paid $6,485.95 for three movies during the 2012-2013 school year, as well as Fright Night last fall.

“We’ve shown ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and ‘Breaking Dawn 2,’ and we’ll be showing ‘Brave’ soon,” Giles said.

The Culture and Education committee recently hosted a Condom Casino, which they spent $4,000 on and only 50 to 70 students attended, Giles said.

“Everything was done on our end months in advance, but the company slacked,” Giles said. “It’s hard to promote an event that you’re not even sure is going to happen.”

UPC Adviser Tyler Thompson said he has no part in deciding what the organization chooses to spend their money on.

“I think the best way to describe the adviser’s role is like a driver’s education course,” Thompson said. “It’s a student-run group by elected student leaders, and it’s student money, so they get the opportunity to make the decisions. And just like a driver’s education teacher, if someone’s going to get hurt or there are legal issues or something that will potentially hurt the campus, that’s where I come in.”