Georgia State’s Student Activities Fee Committee (SAFC) dished out nearly $100,000 dollars to 36 student organizations, allocating some cash to fire up a dozen new student groups that didn’t receive funding last year.
The twelve student organizations, which included Young Democrats at Georgia State, Panthers for Bernie and outreach group Pads for Princesses, were granted almost $100 each in startup money in their Feb. 26 meeting.
The SAF committee, which included Student Government Association (SGA) President Teara Mayfield and Sen. Justin Brightharp, gave Student Veterans Association (SVA), Panther Breakaway, Lambda Alpha Theta Latin Sorority, and the Global Peace Youth Corps (GPYC) over $28,500 combined in their first allocation meeting.
According to Student Activity Fee guidelines, second priority of student funds is given to groups that have events that benefit all students, special interest groups are third priority, and non priority includes past performance and budget management.
Each of the twelve new organizations, including St. Jude Up Til Dawn and several sororities and fraternities, requested different amounts, but the 36 altogether applied for over $232,000, according to Mayfield.
The SAFC opted to give $17,900 to the Student Veterans Association at Georgia State (SVA), $10,500 to Panther Breakaway, $5,700 to the Georgia State Chapter of Lambda Alpha Theta Latin sorority, and the Global Peace Youth Corps (GPYC) received about $3,400.
The Student Veterans Association at Georgia State (SVA) has over 200 members, most of whom have served in the U.S. Military since the 9/11 attacks, and organize events that benefit Georgia State veteran and civilian students, according to the SVA OrgSync page.
“SVA, which has over 215 members, targets our [student] veterans on campus and they are part of our noticeable population,” Brightharp said, “They also help with health and resources for those [veteran] students.”
Panther Breakaway organizes community service trips for students during the winter and spring breaks, according to the Panther Breakaway OrgSync profile page. LAT promotes Latino Unity through various charitable and educational programs, according to the Lambda Alpha Theta Orgsync page.
GPYC, a student organization that wants to educate Georgia State students on issues of homelessness, asked the SAFC for $13,500, and received $3,400. Part of the GPYC’s budget request called for $5,000 airfare to various countries to do community service only four students using student fees.
Director Boyd Beckwith and Sen. Brightharp voiced their opinions for cutting this expense.
“There are plenty of service needs in Atlanta,” Beckwith said, “and no reason to use student fees to send students to other countries.”
“We like the idea [of helping the homeless], but there are rules to follow,” Brightharp said. “They can fundraise with their own money, but not the organization budget.”
The SAFC also decided to cut expenses from organizations such as travel, promotions, food, printing, speaker fees, and production from most of the organizations that applied before they allocated funding. Brightharp also said the organizations could collaborate on events.
“A lot of these organizations do some of the same things, so once this is finalized, the SAFC is going to recommend some of them [the student groups] collaborate,” he said.
The Student Activity Fees Committee supports over 490 student organizations, which provide a range of direct student services, including student programs, workshops, and media, according to Student Affairs. Student organizations had to apply for funds by Feb. 1, according to Holloman.
Mayfield said she believed the meeting went well, with respect to the number of applicant organizations and the available funds. She also said she thinks the committee made impartial decisions, and reallocated funding so every organization could be funded.
“We made our decisions impartially factoring in several criteria, including, but not limited to the reach of the organization, completeness of application, and how they utilized the money in the past,” she said.
By the end of the meeting, the SAFC gave the twelve previously unfunded organizations nearly an extra $100. The motion to approve the current budget passed unanimously, with only $4 left in the budget after the rest of the $89,000 and the seed money was allocated.
Brightharp said the SAFC gave the 12 groups money to see how well they could do with it, and said those groups could receive more from the committee next fiscal year.
The organizations have one week to appeal the SAFC’s decision following the fee disbursement, according to Business Manager Latisha Barnes.
Mayfield also said she was excited the committee funded each organization that applied.
“We were working with a very constrained budget and we diligently spent four hours making sure that we were making the best decision on behalf of the student body and I am happy about that.”
