The Undergraduate Students Association Council approved
operational funding totaling almost $100,000 for over 100 student
groups Tuesday.
But this year, more groups applied for funding than have in the
past, and because of the increase in applicants all groups received
less money. Student leaders are concerned that their groups will be
negatively affected because less funding is now available.
The funds are allocated to groups through the USAC budget review
committee, using quarterly student fees.
Funds through this committee are given to groups to pay for
advertising, supplies, graphics and printing. Groups can apply for
programming funding through a separate committee.
Any registered student group can apply for funding, and of the
over 800 groups on campus 107 applied for money through USAC.
“A lot of people don’t know about it, and one of our
biggest goals is to get more people to apply,” said Maryanne
Cabrera, budget review director under USAC. “We will be
placing ads and holding workshops with groups before the next round
(of funding) … to get more groups to apply.”
Groups that need funding go through a rigorous application and
hearing process, receiving money based on need and how well they
score on a list of criteria.
In the past USAC has been criticized for favoring larger, more
well-known campus groups, but Tina Park, external vice president
and a member of the budget review committee, said USAC has moved
away from that attitude.
“The attitude has changed. Score sheet guidelines are
posted online with the application,” Park said, adding that
USAC makes the scoring guidelines available to student groups
before they apply so the groups know exactly how they will be
graded.
This year the council decided to have only one major round of
funding applications, whereas last year groups had to re-apply each
quarter. This year there is one round of funding for the more
experienced and larger student groups, and in January there will be
a second round of funding strictly for new and start-up
organizations.
This decision was made primarily for logistical reasons, as well
as to make applying for funding easier on the veteran groups and
give the newer groups a chance to spend some time on the
application, Park said.
But due to USAC’s publicity efforts, some student leaders
are concerned about the influx of applications.
“For fall quarter last year we received $1,100, and this
year we got close to that for the whole year,” said Jason
Osajima, director of the Asian Pacific Coalition. “All of us
are grateful for the funding we are receiving, but it’s still
one third of what we have been getting. What new money is going to
come in to support all of these new organizations that are
applying?”
Shawn Chuong Do, president of the Vietnamese Student Union, said
the decrease in funds affects his group because it may have to
start charging members for admission to events or seek other
funding, which takes time.
“I understand that there is a limited amount of money and
that everyone needs it,” he said. “But … I would want
them to allocate money based on how much an organization
(does).”
Osajima said there is one positive aspect of the new process for
applying.
“The process is good because student organizations spend a
lot of time on applications when they could be doing other things
like planning outreach. Now you spend less time
applying.”
Cabrera said she would rather have more groups receive less
funding because it is more equitable.
“We want to have smaller groups have funding so they can
become as big as the other groups. It’s better to have the
money distributed among more organizations,” she said.