CSULB
groups suffer from a decrease in student
fees
Budget:
Student organizations are encouraged to
look outside of school for increased funding
for events.
By
Monica Pardee
On-line Forty-Niner
Student
organizations that missed the deadline for
grant applications might not get another
chance next year due to a decrease in enrollment
and in the amount of money available to
the Associated Students, Inc., which funds
students' organization programming.
The
deadline for student organizations to apply
for program grants for the 2004-05 year
signals the beginning of the end-of-the-year
allocation process for A.S.I. and the Board
of Control, which decides what programs
will receive funds. In other years there
were opportunities for organizations missing
the first round of applications to apply
in the next year.
"When
school starts there is a certain amount
of money left over for students who come
up with additional programs in the following
school year," said Brett Waterfield,
assistant director for Student Life and
Development. "It's an ongoing process
until the pot of money runs out."
But,
that opportunity for organizations cannot
be guaranteed this year due to the decrease
in enrollment for the current term and the
expected decreases for next year, A.S.I.
treasurer Mike Johnson said.
That
pot of money, the Current Year Unallocated
Funds, may be all but non-existent next
year.
"In
the past, because of our enrollment, there
has always been extra money in CYUF,"
Johnson said.
This
led Johnson to recommend that student organizations
apply early to strengthen their chances
of receiving funding.
"I
can't guarantee next year that the CYUF
will be available, which is why it was important
to go through our budget process,"
Johnson said. The grant awards will be finalized
by the end of April.
A.S.I.
funds are based entirely on headcount and
the $44 a semester A.S.I. student fee to
each student. In the 2003-04 year that $44
per student equated to a total of $3.2 million
for the A.S.I. treasury, Johnson said.
"Organizations
need to understand that we are no longer
in the period of rapid growth in enrollment
and the level of comfort and the amount
of additional income that was generated
because of that," Johnson said. "So
we have to start looking at what we're doing,
and bigger and better is no longer a valid
answer, we really have to look at the value
of it."
Due
to reduction in overall enrollment there
will not only be less money for A.S.I.,
but less going toward student organizations.
Out of the $44, $6 each semester goes toward
funding for student organizations. This
raises $300,000 a year for organization
funding. A.S.I. tries to ensure an even
split between nonacademic organizations
and academic organizations.
"If
they want to continue to put on bigger and
better events then they're going to have
to fundraise more, they're going to have
to cut costs and they're going to have to
get more people behind it," Johnson
said.
Johnson
also said that the decreases in funds have
been met by an increase in requests for
funding.
"We
have had more organizations and more grants
than we have had in many years," Johnson
said. "The demand for money is definitely
up, the demand for programs is up and the
amount of money requested is actually at
a record high."
Other
CSU A.S.I.s have proposed to raise students
fees to cover the budget shortfall, Johnson
said, but so far on this campus that proposition
has been unnecessary and unwanted.
"I'll
be damned if I raise the students fees,"
Johnson said. "As treasurer I will
make sure we get through this budget situation
with fiscal responsibility."
Although
available funds may have changed, the process
for organizations to receive the grants
has generally stayed the same.
"They
have an evaluation process that gives merit
to different types of programs, the history
of the success of those programs and the
value they bring to the campus," Waterfield
said. The board also compares the amount
the organization is asking for with the
amount that it is spending on the program.
Waterfield
recommends that organizations putting on
programs find other sources of money like
corporate partners and sponsors, not just
A.S.I.
"That
fund of money supplements programs; nothing
is 100 percent funded," Waterfield
said. "So there is an expectation for
student groups to either raise a certain
amount of money or some membership dues
to supplement the cost of their program."
Organizations
must also remember that funding is not a
right, but a privilege, Waterfield said.
"The
funding is really program based, and not
organization based," he said. "For
example if you apply for money, each organization
doesn't get a certain amount of money. A.S.I.
funds the event that the organization wants
to do."
At
Cal State Long Beach, a decrease in enrollment
has not meant a decrease in organization
activity on campus.
"There's
a lot more activity on campus, we're at
a high in terms of number of student clubs
that are active and students involved in
them and the type of programs," Waterfield
said. "It's a weird equation here,
because there is a demand for more activity
and less funds available."
"Our
student organizations are ambitious and
they're growing stronger," Johnson
said. "The ones that are growing strong
probably deserve more money. A lot of organizations
have understood our financial situation
and have requested lower amounts, but as
with everything on campus we will probably
have to scale back."
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