Increase from projected enrollment leads to surplus of money in SGA budget

September 12, 2016

Dillon Taunton

[email protected]

     After experiencing budgeting issues due to lower-than-estimated student enrollment last year, the Student Government Association modified their budgeting strategy.

     Currently, there is $114,590 to allocate to clubs within the SGA budget.

     This fall, student enrollment is above the projected zero-percent increase, a 6.8 percent increase from last fall’s enrollment, which led to a surplus of money for SGA’s general fund from student fees.

     An increase in student enrollment was not anticipated to affect the funds, according to student director of finance Joseph Conrad.

     “When we projected our budget for this year we anticipated no increase in student enrollment, because we didn’t want to run into the issue of having less enrollment than we projected our budget toward,” said Conrad.

     This surplus money will be placed in an account separate from the funds allocated to clubs and organizations, according to Conrad.

     The carry forward fund, an account that also holds surplus money from previous years, is used for the senate rather than clubs and organizations. Right now, the carry forward fund has $102,541.

     How the money is used within the carry forward budget is up to the senate, but some of the money could be transferred to clubs and organizations if needed, explained Conrad.

     The amount of money available to clubs and organizations is fixed for the entire year, but if the money runs out, SGA can write a bill to give money back to the fund for clubs and organizations.

     “More likely than not, in November and probably March we will be looking into transferring some of the carry forward fund into the club budget. That is when we usually see the club fund running out of money,” said Conrad.

     Clubs on campus are each allowed to claim up to $3,000 from SGA for the entire academic year, but occasionally this number is exceeded by clubs and made up for by using the carry forward fund, according to Conrad.

     “Often times, particularly with sports clubs, if they run past their allocated funds during their season and end up going to regionals or nationals then we pay for that to happen through the carry forward fund,” said Conrad.

     This process can be unfavorable for some clubs on campus, according to Conrad.

     “We be sure that clubs use their allotted $3,000 before we go into this. The carry forward can be an unfair process if some clubs are allowed to use it but others are only allowed cluballocated funds,” said Conrad.

     Budget advisory committee meetings are held every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in UC 126 and SGA senate meetings are every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in UC 303. Both meetings are open to students and the public.

     More information can be found on SGA’s Mountain Lion Connect