Believed to be due to a decreased student activity fee, a smaller freshmen enrollment and unauthorized spending of reserve funds, the Student Government Association (SGA) began the 2016-17 school year with over $150,000 less to allocate to Longwood’s students clubs and organizations, according to SGA Treasurer Dustyn Hall.
The Student Finance Committee (SFC) started the year with $32,589.85 in the account. So far, SFC has allocated $2,917.16 to nine organizations, bringing the balance for the entire year to $29,672.69 as of Oct. 25.
Clubs and organizations can come to SFC with monetary requests to be approved or denied. If approved, it is voted on in the following SGA meeting. Typically, SFC spends roughly $185,000 per year.
“We are going through a certain financial situation whereby the student finance committee as a subject of SGA as a whole representing the student body has really got to be stringent and very conservative in what we’re spending and how much we’re spending and what we’re spending it on,” said Hall.
The 2016-17 SGA budget totals $757,037.10. After budgeting season last spring, SGA promised a total $682,617.25 to 63 organizations with $188,050.66 in a student activity reserve fund.
Outside of the 63 organizations, the annual budget also promised $20,000 to the Educational Programming Appropriations Act, $14,830 to Graduate Student Fees and $7,000 to the National Pan-Hellenic Council, according to the SGA Financial Year Preview.
The SGA reserve account, repeatedly referred to as “a rainy day fund” by Hall, consists of funds that clubs and organizations didn’t use in their allocations, accruing over time. Now, the reserve funds have been used so frequently the total that can be allocated is extremely low, according to Hall.
According to Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson, none of SGA’s funds were used for the vice presidential debate, hosted at Longwood on Oct. 4.
“SGA did not spend any money on the debate,” said Pierson.
Hall said a new bylaw was passed requiring the SGA President or the SGA Treasurer to approve on any spending of reserve funds, whereas in the past there was no oversight on the funds removed from the account.
All undergraduate students are charged student activity fees per credit hour each semester, according to Hall. He said SGA has already taken into account the projected amount of student activity fees it will receive in the spring of 2017 for the budgets approved in the spring of 2016, so it won’t add to the amount they have to allocate.
“SGA does receive money in both the fall and spring once the add/drop date passes, but that money is all spent because of the money we promised when we approved budgets last spring. So, that money is already used,” said Hall.
Hall believed the reasons for the low budget for the year was due to a smaller intake of students in the freshmen class, the student activity fee being decreased by $1 since 2014 and unauthorized spending done in years past with the student activity fee reserve account.
“We saw an influx of applications, but we also took in a smaller class. With those smaller classes is going to have to come consequence, and with those smaller classes is going to come less money for us on the student side to spend,” said Hall.
The freshmen class included 950 students as of Aug. 25 after the add/drop date, a decrease from the 1,053 students enrolled in the 2015-16 school year.
In the 2014-15 year, Longwood approached the previous SGA senate to propose the student activity fee decrease from $6 to $5 per credit hour to maintain the tuition increase of under three percent, according to Hall, who was not part of the senate at the time.
Longwood Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson said SGA was involved in the decision.
“We held it down last year to stay under three percent, which the governor’s office had recommended,” said Pierson. “The SGA was always involved in those (talks), that decision was never made without the SGA president involved.”
Hall disclosed the SGA has received a letter from Longwood’s administration stating the plan to increase the student activity fee from $5 to $6 for the 2017-18 year.
“This is in writing from the president the student activity fee will go back up to $6, this was consulted with (former SGA President) Constance (Garner), with the president (Taylor Reveley IV) and (Longwood Vice President of Administration and Finance) Ken Copeland and myself,” said Pierson.
When passing the organization budgets in the spring, Hall said the SGA realized an overture in funds but believed the student activity fee would be increased to the original amount of $6 that would make up for the overture.
“I think that they allocated with a number in mind, which is great, but it’s not the correct number and, on top of that, they forgot that they have to add these other things on top of that, which also come from that one pot of money,” said Hall. “In my opinion as treasurer, my peers did so without any prior knowledge about what the projected incoming class was going to look like and that’s not the fault of one single person. I wouldn’t say that it was the fault of anybody, I would just say that sometimes we are so quick to get through budget season.”
According to Pierson, who advises the SGA, attends the majority of their weekly meetings, there weren’t any plans to return the student activity fee, “There was not, to my knowledge, talk we were at $6 when we made that budget, they may have assumed that, but that wasn’t my recollection of that.”
During the budgeting session organizations come to SFC in the spring to request funds for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30, the same as the university’s fiscal year.
Copeland completed a “financial debriefing” with the SGA in the beginning of the semester, according to Hall.
Pierson and Cheryl Steele, associate dean for student engagement, have also been in talks with the SGA about the issue during weekly executive meetings.
“We (SFC) are actively watching those numbers every week,” said Hall.
This year, the SFC and SGA have denied allocations to three organizations including the Outdoor Club in which has been denied twice.
The Outdoor Club was denied during the SGA meeting on Sept. 27 for a $1,800 request for a white water rafting trip for the second time. Originally, SFC denied the club earlier in the fall and asked them to return with a more specific breakdown of the funds necessary for their trip. Upon returning, the club was approved by the SFC, but denied in SGA, according to Michael Wiegand, president of the Outdoor Club.
“They just kind of strung us along until we couldn’t really go on the trip because the payments were due before then,” said Wiegand.
Wiegand said he has no plans to revisit SFC in the future.
“I feel like the SFC and the SGA were very torn on the issue, and I feel like with the lack of campus recreation involvement this semester, us asking for payment for a white water rafting trip wasn’t that much seeing that we haven’t had a gym,” said Weigand.
“We really look at not only how it’s benefiting that group of people or organization or how they can bring back those ideas, bring back things for campus, benefit everybody a part of the Longwood community, not just a few people that are apart of this organization,” said Hall.
During weekly SFC meetings on Thursdays at 6 p.m., the 13 member committee of various SGA and class leaders, including SGA President Dillon Yonker and Vice President Tristan Hobbs, is required to be present and vote to approve or deny an organization’s request.
Hall disclosed that in those meetings his committee members typically ask the organization if they have fundraised, asked their department for funds and if they charge their members dues.
“I surely hope this is not discouraging. I hope they (organizations) will continue to come but I also hope this encourages them to seek other forms of monetary support,” said Hall. “Our senate is going to be talking about some solutions to this issue, but the real honest truth of this and the big picture to this is that there is only $30,000 left to spend this fiscal year.”
SFC meetings occur weekly at 6 p.m. on Thursdays in the Amelia Room in the Lankford Student Union.
