Shortage of funding and financial resources is a common – and touchy – subject at UCLA.
For the second year in a row, student groups will be receiving reduced allocations from the Undergraduate Students Association Council Student Organizations Operational Fund, commonly known as SOOF. SOOF provides funding for retreats, T-shirts, advertising and supplies, among other things for on-campus student groups. This year, allocations to student groups went down by $35,000 – but even while allocations are dropping, budget reports have shown that many student organizations do not spend all of their allocated budgets.
USAC Budget Review Director Justine Pascual said she and other members of USAC are unsure why student groups are not using all of their funding. But the long and arduous process student groups have to go through to access the money they’ve been allocated is likely a deterrent.
The initial SOOF application process is long and tedious, with various criteria that student groups must meet. If the application is accepted, student groups must endure a long bureaucratic process to access their own funds, causing many groups to front their own money for programs or supplies that must be purchased in the beginning of the year. As funding allocations go down, that long process becomes less and less worth it. Some student groups actively choose not to access money they have already been allocated, and the money goes unused.
Accessing SOOF funding should be a simpler process for student groups. USAC can help that happen by making an effort to work directly with student groups and guiding them through the process of applying for and then acquiring their funds.
To be sure, USAC has taken some steps to provide the necessary information to student organizations on how to apply for and use SOOF and other funding sources. USAC provides workshops on SOOF with various funding chairs, as well as online tutorials and councilmember office hours, Pascual said. But clearly, judging by the amount of money that goes unused, this is not enough.
Councilmembers and others involved in USAC should make a more concerted effort to guide student groups through the rigorous application process.
One possible step USAC can take to solve this problem is physically delivering the information on SOOF to student groups. USAC representatives can attend student group meetings and directly work with student group leaders to apply for and utilize SOOF.
If students are better educated on what it takes to acquire SOOF funding in a simple step-by-step process, they can better access their budgets and put them to use. Then student groups could take advantage of their SOOF rewards more effectively, and more money could go toward club funding.
When SOOF budgets are reduced, student organizations are more limited in what they can afford. It takes money for clubs to be able to advertise and recruit new members and to afford to retain their current members.
The Internal Vice President’s office is responsible for acting as the liaison between USAC and student groups. But SOOF education outreach from this office has not been effective, so additional help from other USAC offices can provide the extra hand the Internal Vice President’s office needs.
The general representatives’ duties are not as specific as other officers’ and tend to be more malleable. One of the general representatives could consider making student club funding a priority. A general representative’s office has the time, people and other resources that could be dedicated to simplifying student accessibility to much-needed funding.
Although USAC has made some effort to make the information on SOOF available, it has not done enough. Putting information up online or waiting for groups to come to office hours is a passive approach to solving funding problems that need an active search for solutions.