By Amelia Kibbe
Editor-In-Chief
Although university officials have yet to release official enrollment numbers for the 2015-16 academic year or finalized club budgets, new Student Government Association (SGA) President Rose Brown said a budget decrease is likely to continue.
However, she added she is confident university officials will do everything possible to ensure the continuation of the different clubs.
“Our budgets have steadily been decreasing in the past years,” Brown said. “That again is because of enrollment issues. I believe there is nowhere to go than up, and the university is dipping into every resource it can to solve that problem…”
Brown said official budget numbers will be determined within a week and will be discussed with club leaders Wednesday night at what she referred to as “budget night.”
Each club’s allotment is determined by factors such as how much it has in its account already, how much it spent previously–and on what–and how active the club is. She added much of this information is determined by Rob Defazio, director of the Center for Activities, Recreation and Leadership, and Abby Cohen, associate director of club sports, intramurals and student engagement.
She added the total amount of money SGA has to allot is dependent upon many factors, including the student fee.
Part of the student fee, which is $964 per year per student, goes to SGA to allot to different clubs, Brown said.
Therefore, the number of students enrolled at St. Bonaventure will determine how much money SGA is given to allot to clubs.
University officials did not provide the number of enrolled students in the freshman class or the number of transfers, saying an official number will not be available until the end of September.
“Because students are still enrolling, and sometimes departing, during the first week or two of the semester, universities wait until mid-September before completing their censuses to finalize enrollment numbers,” said Tom Missel, director of media relations and marketing.
However, an Olean Times Herald article from Aug. 28 claimed “roughly 400 freshman” moved into the university last Thursday.
Brown said that while she recognizes declining enrollment will continue to be a problem for clubs and organizations, she is hopeful that the community and university will continue to help.
“…We are still hoping for another generous donation like we received last year,” she said, referring to a $50,000 donation given to SGA last school year. SGA allotted that money to different clubs, mainly a group known at the “big four.” The “big four” consists of The Bona Venture, Campus Activities Board (CAB), the campus radio station and intermural sports.
She added in the meantime, SGA will continue to help clubs in any way it can. She explained that clubs that think they received less budget money that will be needed is encouraged to submit grant forms to SGA, which will help the club with additional costs.
“Like I said, we want to be able to support our clubs as much as we can, but sometimes our hands are tied, but we always try to meet them as best we can,” she said.”
kibbeaa13@bonaventure.edu
