Extra funds come to Congress' aid

In the midst of what seemed to be a budget crisis, Student Congress representatives said they were surprised Tuesday with an estimated wave of $86,000 in additional funds to use this semester.

Student officials said that because of last year’s increase in student activity fees, Congress received an unexpected influx of funds to use for student organization activities.

Daneen Furr, chairwoman of the finance committee, said the amount of money in the spring budget skyrocketed to $114,000, as opposed to $28,000, which the committee was prepared to stretch for the remainder of this semester.

“It would have been very difficult (to finish the semester without the additional funds) mainly because I think we would have risked underfunding or not funding a lot of beneficial groups,” Furr said.

Student government officials said they were pleasantly surprised by the total.

“The fee increase was passed last year, but this was the first time we’ve ever seen the money,” said Alexa Kleysteuber, student body vice president.

Although student activity fee revenue is given to Congress to fund student club activities, student organizations will not receive the entire surplus of funds because the Student Activities Fund Office receives its operational costs from the student activity fee.

Furr said she was uncertain as to how much money SAFO would require, but she estimated that the extra money could mean a $32,000 increase for Congress to dole out to student organizations throughout the semester.

She said that a conservative estimate of the new budget, given the new funds, would be about $60,000 — in effect doubling the previous budget.

Because of the boost in funds, Congress was able to appropriate $17,183.08 to several student groups Tuesday night, which would have left student organizations with about $10,000 for the rest of the semester without the jump in funding from the fee increase.

Student Congress gave several groups that appeared before them Tuesday more money than they were promised last week at the Finance Committee meeting because of the perceived budget deficit.

Of the money divvied out Tuesday night, the Campus Y received $5,500 to bring in Coach Ken Carter, whose life is portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the recent film “Coach Carter.”

Officials from the Campus Y said they were able to get Carter to negotiate his price down to $17,500 from his original honorarium quote of $20,000.

Because of the decrease in price, Campus Y officials said they will only need to raise $500, plus the cost of a plane ticket, if negotiations with other campus organizations are finalized.

Carter is scheduled to speak March 30 in the Great Hall of the Student Union.

Furr said SAFO officials predicted that the fee increase could flow into Student Congress once again before the end of the semester.

“The problem is that we can’t know exactly how much,” Furr said. “It’s come in varied amounts up to this point.”

Furr said she will be able to determine the exact amount of money that Student Congress will control by the end of the week.

Student Body Treasurer Natalie Russell said she was pleased to learn that there are excess funds available for student organizations to use this semester.

“We want the students that pay the fee to see the benefits of that money.”

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.