After years of heavy budget cuts, the office of the president was able to significantly increase the Student Association’s requested funding. “This is an enormous increase in our budget, especially in what the Senate is able to do for the student organizations,” SA Vice President Sara Peters said.
SA president Parker Wiseman made a proposal to the office of the president requesting funding this summer and was given a sum of “one time money.”
In Wiseman’s proposal, he compared Mississippi State University to other universities such as Louisiana State University, University of Alabama and University of Kentucky. Unlike MSU, these schools are able to have activity fees that help student organizations to compete and participate in more activities.
Wiseman said MSU does not work under these procedures but rather sticks very closely to the proposed budget.
“These school’s student government budgets literally exceed a million dollars,” Wiseman said.
Wiseman said this year is a start and the SA will be able to operate much better with its increased budget. The Student Senate is one area that will experience vast improvements. In previous years, the money budgeted for the Senate to allocate to student organizations was $2000. With an increase in this year’s budget, the Senate will be allocating $11,000 to student organizations.
Peters said she would love if the Senate could help at least 20 different groups with this money.
“Before September we didn’t know if it was final, but now that it’s in the bank we would love to publicize it as much as possible,” Peters said.
To qualify for any amount of this money, the group must be a registered organization on campus. Request forms can be picked up at the SA office next to the State Fountain.
Wiseman said there were always request forms but this year the forms have been revamped and are more detailed. Organizations will also have to fill out follow-up forms on the allocated money.
“They have to be specific and we have to hold them accountable for how they use the money,” Wiseman said.
The forms explain what the SA can and cannot pay for. Commonly requested money goes to keynote speakers, catering, conference and registration fees and rental equipment fees. Three expenses the SA cannot fund are transportation, lodging and operational costs.
Once the form is picked up, the president of the organization must complete an itemized list of expenditures. The organization must also complete a section telling how the requested money has potential to benefit MSU. The form is due back to the SA office no later than Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. and must be signed by the president, treasurer and faculty sponsor of the organization.
Head of appropriations Brent Tyler and the SA financial committee will budget the $11,000 among the various requests and present the budget at the following Senate meeting Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Mitchell Memorial Library Auditorium. Students and faculty are welcome to attend the meeting.
There is also a spring date for money that will be allocated for second semester.
“I don’t know if we’ll see this kind of funding again but this experiment can only be successful through the groups that represent MSU,” Peters said.