The Undergraduate Finance Committee increased funding for Programming Board and the Committee on Student Organizations, but reduced Student Assembly's budget by about $10,000 for the 2009-2010 academic year, UFC President Neil Kandler '09 announced on Thursday. The UFC's allocation for next year increased by about $43,350 over last year's total.
The UFC budget which is funded by the student activities fee totaled $960,000 for the 2009-2010 academic year.
"The student activity [fee] rises with tuition, so if tuition goes up by, say 5 percent, the activity fee will do the same," Kandler said in an e-mail to the Dartmouth.
Tuition will increase by 4.8 percent for next year.
Most of the organizations funded by the UFC saw their budgets increase or remain relatively consistent, except for the Assembly.
Under former Student Body President Molly Bode '09, the Assembly's budget increased from $75,000 to $85,100, according to data provided by Kandler.
The Assembly's budget will return to $75,000 for the 2009-2010 academic year, newly instated Student Body President Frances Vernon '10 said. Bode requested $123,150 in spring 2008, and Vernon '10 said she requested $113,450 this spring.
The Assembly requested extra funds, Vernon said, so that the organization could provide funding for student organizations hurt by budget cuts. The UFC decided, however, that other groups were better able to distribute the funds, Kandler said.
"While [the Assembly] did take a decrease, there were a lot of existing programs that other UFC groups were taking on for the first time, while [the Assembly] wasn't asked to take on big programs that would have otherwise been cut," Kandler said.
Vernon said she was confident that other UFC organizations could support the student organizations that require extra assistance. She said she is not worried about the Assembly's ability to implement its plans, despite the funding reduction.
"Hopefully, there won't be any certain programs that will be cut, just smaller amounts of money spent on some of them," Vernon said.
COSO will receive $252,000 for the 2009-2010 year, an increase of $14,400 over its 2008-2009 allotment of $237,600.
"Groups all over campus that have traditionally gotten funding from other places have seen those sources dry up and come to COSO," said Thomas Hadley '10, a member of COSO who worked with Chistopher Han '11 to prepare and present COSO's budget proposal to the UFC.
COSO has been able to accommodate a smaller percentage of those groups seeking funding for events this term than it had previously, Hadley and Han said.
"[COSO] requested more funding to be able to support as many student groups as possible, despite the budget cuts," COSO adviser and associate director of the Collis Center Elizabeth Agosto said.
Hadley and Han said that they requested $260,000, but that $252,000 will allow COSO to meet most groups' needs.
Programming Board's budget also increased, according to Kandler. For the coming year, Programming Board will receive $320,000, up from $316,800 for the 2008-2009 year.
"We wanted to cover the costs of orientation that student activities used to pay for its budget had been slashed dramatically and we want to help with the senior gala," PB UFC representative Joseph Dang '10 said. "Hopefully, we can still do that."
The Greek Leadership Council will also see a budget increase, from $41,600 for the 2008-2009 year to $45,000 next year.
"We eliminated a lot of free food and T-shirt' events to strengthen our budget and fund more substantive programs, like Pride Week," GLC public relations chair Eli Mitchell '10 said. "We requested $52,000 for next year, and that wasn't fully funded, but I think the fact they increased our funding at all speaks to the strength of our new plans."
The Special Programs and Events Committee also received increased funding, according to Kandler.
SPEC requested $140,000, but will receive $134,000, SPEC chair Robert Hoffman '10 said. Last spring, SPEC was allocated $123,800, according a 2008 UFC press release.
No funding will be provided to local service programs run through the Tucker Foundation next year, which received $10,900 last year, according to Kandler.
"This year, the UFC decided that the UFC wasn't the best place for local service groups to receive funding from, and that these groups should return to being funded by Tucker as they had prior to two years ago," Kandler said.
Funding for club sports nearly doubled, from $14,350 in 2008-2009 to $28,700 for next year.
"Club sports had received cuts from other sources of funding, like the athletic department, so their increase was to mitigate the loss of funding from other areas," Kandler said.
The Committee of Class Officers, representing each Class Council, saw its funding decrease slightly, from $33,700 to $32,000, which will be divided among the Class Councils.
Multiple student leaders for both COCO and club sports could not be reached for comment.
The Student Life fund in Collis increased from $13,200 to $23,300, Kandler said.
