The Student Government Association allocated $36,500 among various student organizations at its semi-annual budget meeting on Thursday.
Student organizations received more funding this semester than at the Fall 2024 budget meeting. The Shinnery Review received the most funding which was just over $2,300. The International Student Association and the Indian Culture Association each received around $2,250.
The SGA constitution allows for up to 60% of its funding to be allocated to organizations.
The SGA website explains that “SGA receives money from a variety of sources. The salaries budget is donated anonymously, the operations budget is allocated by the university through the general operating budget, and the remainder is obtained through a percentage of the student activity fee. In some instances, SGA may receive external funding through donors, alumni, or other departments within ACU.”
SGA’s budgeting process started the first week of the spring semester. Over five days Clayton Jones, SGA’s chief financial officer, and Tyler Gaylor, SGA’s executive treasurer, met with 59 organization representatives for 15 minutes to discuss how much funding they should receive.
Gaylor, senior accounting major from Richardson and Jones, senior financial major from McKinney, discussed the budget on Wednesday and looked at these four principles to determine how much is allocated to each organization.
- Modesty
- Reliability
- Engagement
- Consistency
“If an organization is really good with their money, it’s easy to give them money and it’s easy to help them,” Jones said.
Student organizations have the chance to lobby for more money at the budget meeting. Each organization is represented by an SGA senator, who proposes an amendment to the budget bill. The senator makes a case for their organization and all SGA senators vote on the amendment.
For an organization to receive extra funding, money must be taken from other organizations. There are three different ways to lobby for more funding.
- One decrease to one increase.
- Several small decreases to one increase.
- Equal decrease of all to one increase.
Four amendments were proposed, but only three organizations gained funding from this process.
The Cinema Society requested $1 from every organization, however, senators voted against its request.
“I’m a little disappointed our amendment didn’t pass today, but I understand $1 can be make or break for a lot of clubs and funding is a little tight this year,” said President of the Cinema Society, Blaize Whitaker, junior management major from Lubbock.
ACU for Life was originally allocated $253 but received $25 at the budget meeting from ACU College Republicans. Both organizations previously agreed on this transfer.
“The shared money helps especially with the promotion and fundraising for our scholarship, which goes to pregnant and parenting students here at ACU,” said ACU for Life’s treasure Jacob Hibbard, junior criminal justice major from Rio Rancho, New Mexico. “We’re just trying to have a little more money so we can give more to those students.”
ACU Choirs had two amendments go through. First, they received $3 from every organization and an additional $25 from A Capella Groups.
The full Spring 2025 budget is linked below.
