UB's Student Government Association and the Student Programming Board

One area of campus life that UB students may not be fully aware of is the yearly budget that is used by the Student Government Association [SGA] and Student Programming Board [SPB]. Each semester, a portion of money is given out to both organizations in order to maintain successful resources.

According to Colleen Powers, Director of Campus Activities, SGA receives 65 percent of the budget while SPB obtains 35 percent and it all depends on the total student enrollment for each semester. This semester there was about $120,000 to work with and an estimated $200,000 for the year between both organizations. The spring semester will bring a different amount operate with.

"Since enrollment is historically less in the spring semester, SGA and SPB conservatively estimated about $200,000 as their annual operating budget when planning for the year," Powers said. "We won't have an exact spring budget amount until all spring 2011 traditional, full-time; undergraduates have enrolled for that semester."

Every year each student is charged a Student Activity Fee of $90 which makes up for around 25 percent or $144,000 of the operating expenses for events and meetings. It also means that student clubs and organizations are never charged for facilities costing including labor but it consists of operating costs.

"The programming board and all of its members are taking the decisions they are making with all the clubs and are taking it into consideration and doing a very good job so far in maintaining the budget," SPB president Darren Ganesh said. "As far as funding each club, we take it in as a day by day basis and we look at the rubric on how we judge whether or not to give a club or organization how much money they will need."

The rubric which is called Club Funding 101, states that if your club is requesting financial support for a program or event you will work with SPB. Programs that fall under that criteria consists of Entertainment Expenses, Program Supplies, Giveaways and other overall event specific needs. On the other hand, if your club is applying for financial support which is not programmatic, you will work with SGA. Requests include club/office supplies (shirts, pens, etc), academic/educational lectures and conference expenses.

Powers said that in order for clubs to request funding, they will need to be in good standing with active club requirements in areas such as attendance at required meetings, events and that all paperwork is up to date. SPB urges to students to come out every Monday night at 9 p.m. in the Private Dining Room in the Student Center and voice their thoughts and ideas on what events they would like to see.

SGA Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Chris Frost said that he thinks allocating the money he deals with each semester will remain a positive situation going forward.

"This [the budget] allows SGA to focus on the students, to focus on the change that they [the student body] wants to see and be able to make a difference at the university," Frost said.