MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ
News Assistant
More than 3,000 Seaver students pay $45 to SGA and Programming Board each year, giving those entities responsibility over $135,000 of student money. Due to recent adjustments, namely separating PB from SGA, this year represents landmark moves toward responsible spending.
In past years, when SGA was in charge of programming, it failed to focus on representing student needs according to Michael Houston, Student Activities coordinator.
“Nothing could be done well because they were stretched in too many directions,” Houston said.
Now however, with $63,000 allocated to Programming Board and $74,000 to SGA, students are better benefited by their money.
“Student needs are now being met,” Houston said.
Justin Schneider, adviser for PB, agreed.
“It makes sense (the switch),” he said. “It puts programming in the hub with Student Activities, NSO and weekend events.” Schneider noted that the number of events and students reached has increased.
Aside from added events, SGA came out with a surplus this year, correcting the more than 10,000 deficit of years past. Contributions to this budgeting miracle are new Inter-Club Council (ICC) policies guided by Vice President Misty Day and determination of this years’ treasurer, Manuel Mihalas.
“Even in my personal life, I’m not a frivolous spender,” Mihalas said. “I just made a psychological decision at the beginning of the year to not spend on anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
“Plus, it is easier to over-spend on events,” he said, pointing to the policy-oriented switch SGA made.
Event planning is now in the hands of PB, whose nine directors have hosted a total of 85 events this year. Average attendance to each event is 113 according to Financial Director David Lock. This number does not include Midnight Madness or Friday’s Something Corporate concert, which hosted 650 students. It does represent events from a wide-range of attendance, spanning from around 450 at the Bebo Norman concert, for example, to a hand-full at Sunday’s Easter-egg hunt.
While SGA officials are elected by the student body and paid stipends of $900 each from theSGA budget, PB directors are hired and paid by the Student Activities office. Thus, PBs salary is provided by the university, not from each student’s $45.
While a total of $3,600 goes toward E-board stipends, $20,000 of student money is allocated to ICC, which has experienced changes this year.
“This year has been an amazing year for ICC, filled with many changes and advancements,” Day said.
ICC now meets regularly on Mondays at 7 p.m. to distribute money to student-led clubs for events.
“ICC before was much less organized and there was little accountability with the monies they were given,” Houston said.
Now however, clubs must register at the beginning of each semester to be considered for budget allocation. At meetings, ICC delegates listen to club requests then vote on funding, according to Day. She said clubs have given positive feedback on this revised process, primarily because it has encouraged collaboration between clubs on events.
“One of the greatest improvements we have made this year is holding clubs accountable for the way in which they spend their money,” Day said.
Each club must show where money was spent by including receipts, a typed budget and a written evaluation of the event. Any unused event money is resubmitted to the ICC budget for future re allocation.
“This has helped completely get rid of inflated budgets and money being used incorrectly,” Day said. “By keeping track of the spending, students can be reassured that money is being spent the way it is said it will be spent.”
Shneider said PB aligns with Day’s goals.
“Our motto is: Give students their money’s worth,” he said.
Houston said he is happy with this year and looks forward to future improvements.
“This year was a good learning curve year for SGA, and they have built a solid foundation for future SGAs simply because they had the time to focus on meeting the student’s needs,” Houston said. “It will get 10 times better every year.”
03-31-2005