SAFBA Recommendations FY 2010

The SAFBA committee reviewed all funding proposals for FY 2010 and is submitting their recommendations as follows:

1.      The committee is submitting one proposal for a no fee increase which is for $1,150,000.00. The other two budget possibilities are a $1.00 fee increase for, $1,170,000.00 and a $2.00 fee increase for $1,190,000.00. If the Board of Regents would approve either the $1.00 or the $2.00 fee increase the committee would request the increase be placed in the reserve. They felt since the enrollment projection might be less than anticipated it would be the most fiscally responsible thing to do at this time.

2.      The committee did not fund one new request; one for the Film Society because they did not meet the requirement of having to have been a registered student organization for one year prior to requesting funding.

3.      The committee did not stay with the $500.00 limit for funding new requests. They felt that many of the new requests warranted funding beyond the $500.00.

4.      The committee is concerned about the amount of student activity fee money that is being paid to Aramark by student organizations to have food at their events. Organizations are required to use Aramark.  The University agreement with Aramark requires all food for on campus events be approved by Aramark. This puts a strain on organizations that have smaller budgets. Many of the organizations are spending much of their money on purchasing food. The committee would like to see if it would be possible for Aramark to have a limited selection of food at a lower cost for organizations.

5.      The committee would request that the CSI office research the possibility of allowing all registered student organizations the free use of the copy machine in the Creation Station. They agreed to increase the funding of the Creation Station to cover additional cost if this can be done.

6.      The committee reduced the budget for the West Georgian by $11,500.00. Part of their request included $7,000.00 to pay their advisor. The SAFBA guidelines state no professional salaries are to be paid from the SAFBA budget. The West Georgian did not appear for their oral defense to explain their budget request so the committee could not determine the need for an increase and they felt that the West Georgian has not been responsive this past year to the needs of the students.

7.      The Theater Department also submitted a request for funding a staff person. This was denied based on the guidelines. The committee wants this conveyed to all those who are funded that student fee monies cannot be used for professional staff salaries.

8.      The committee feels that a strong message needs to be sent to the Music Department to begin reducing their dependence on the SAFBA Budget for their funding. They will receive roughly 21% of the SAFBA budget this next year. The committee supports what the Music Department does, and feels it provides an opportunity for student involvement but that part of their support should come from other budgets. They feel strongly about not supporting travel oversees for a small music groups.

9.      The committee wants to reword # 4 in the guidelines to say, "Applicants should demonstrate campus/community involvement and student organizations requesting funding must be registered with the Center for Student Involvement and must have been registered the year preceding their request for funding".

10.  The committee would like the budget request form to ask for number of members in their organization and number of attendees at their events.

11.  The committee would like to request that money be set aside from the reserve to fund a shuttle service to and from Wal-Mart for students. A committee member is researching the cost and will submit a budget request for this service.

12.  The committee is asking that a one-time allocation should be made to Choral Organizations for $12,500.00 and to Instrumental Organizations for $22,500.00.