Student groups could see a boost in funding with the budget amplification of the Michigan Student Assembly’s Student Organization Funding Commission.
The Student Assembly, MSA’s legislative body, passed a resolution at the MSA meeting last night to transfer $15,000 from the Commission Discretionary account to the Student Organization Funding Commission, which is responsible for allocating money to student organizations.
MSA President DeAndree Watson said he approves of the resolution’s passing.
“I think that’s great that we were able to find $15,000 in other places within the organization to devote to funding student organizations, so I’m excited to see that that passed,” Watson said.
MSA’s Finance Committee has approved the transfer, but LSA sophomore Christopher Osborn, Finance Committee chair, said he wanted to bring the resolution before the entire assembly to increase its transparency.
Speaker of the Assembly Matthew Eral said some MSA members were uncomfortable that such a large transfer could be made by the finance committee without the entire assembly’s input.
“There does need to be more legislative oversight for the transfer of funds that large,” Watson said.
Watson said he expects Eral to write a resolution creating more legislative oversight for financial issues, which he said he will support.
The transfer was deemed necessary by the Finance Committee because student organizations requested more money than expected during the first and second cycles of funding this semester. The current system has three cycles during which student organizations can apply for funding.
The three funding application due dates for this year are Sept. 30, Oct. 28 and Dec. 2. Because so much funding was allocated during the first two cycles, the Student Organization Funding Commission had less money than usual for the third cycle.
However, this financing system for student organizations won’t be in place much longer. After Jan. 1, MSA will employ a new funding method in which student organizations won’t need to wait for a new cycle to apply for funding, but can instead do so based on need.
This semester, Watson and MSA Vice President Brendan Campbell have been working independently of the Student Assembly to implement the new system.
“Brendan and I actually ran on the promise that we were (going to) change funding, partly because it doesn’t really work for student orgs,” Watson said.
Watson said many student organizations form at the end of cycles or don’t plan far enough ahead, making it difficult to receive funding from the current system. Watson added that MSA will have a better understanding of how much funding organizations are requesting and will be able to allocate funds more accurately in the future.
“Essentially, we’re making more funding available to student orgs without increasing the actual amount of money we’re using, which I think is beautiful,” Watson said.
He added that the delay in the system’s implementation is due to unresolved MSA administration issues, but he is confident in the new method’s effectiveness.