The Student Senate must determine how to distribute about $48,000 that will go to student organizations, after 148 group requested almost three times that amount through the appropriations process.
“We had about 100 people file on Sunday alone, which makes it difficult to plan ahead and start assigning Senators to groups,” Kelli Rogers, Appropriations Committee Chair, said. “If groups filed earlier, it would make it easier for us and it would speed up the process in which we could make interview requests.”
About 20 more groups filed than did last year, Rogers, a junior in political science and Student Senate pro tempore, said, and the total amount they requested was $134,728, but most of that came Sunday.
“It’s just a natural thing,” she said. “Groups forget, especially with the big game Saturday and waiting to get information. I was very pleased because we did have about 25 people show up to help sessions.”
Help sessions allowed student organization leaders to meet with senators to review aspects of the appropriations process, and Rogers said it was nice to have so many people use the sessions.
“That’s more than we’ve had the past several years,” she said.
It is also typical for student groups to request for more money than Student Government will eventually allot them, Rogers said.
Some of the $48,000 Student Government can distribute to groups will need to be reserved for appeals, and Rogers said she has tried to discourage groups from inflating their requests.
Senators used to encourage groups to inflate their requests, by saying that they needed more money for certain events than they did, she said. Then, if Student Government cut their initial requests, the groups would still get the amount they really needed.
JoEllen Billotte, a sophomore in environmental science, said her group, Circle K, budgeted the amount of money they would need for service events before applying for money.
“We made a budget of what we expect to have in revenue this year versus what we expect to need for service projects this year,” Billotte said.
Billotte said it is imperative that Student Government gives Circle K the money they requested because of the group’s purpose.
“The biggest reason it’s imperative is that we’re a service organization,” she said. “Other people request money for other events like a pig-picking or a dance, but we’re doing service for the children and the community of Raleigh.”
Justin Carey, a junior in nuclear engineering and one of the organizers for the Krispy Kreme Challenge, said this is the first year the group has asked for a request.
“This year, we’re looking at being much bigger than we ever have been, so we’re starting to look for all sources of funding,” Carey said.
The KKC request was for $2,000, the maximum request, and Rogers said because groups asked for so much more money than Student Government can allocate, no groups will get the maximum amount.
Carey said the money from Student Government may not be imperative for the event, but it would help make the KKC cheaper for participants.
“There’s a fee for students to register,” he said. “This would help us a lot with keeping the fee low. With price increases, and [since] we’re going to have to offer more services [for more people], we might have to increase the price without student funding.”
The interview process for student groups that requested money will begin Thursday and continue Friday, and next Monday and Tuesday, Rogers said.
Each group will have three minutes to present to the Appropriations Committee, and since there are four nights to go through 148 groups, Rogers said the interviews will have to go according to schedule.