The Student Services Financial Committee met Wednesday to make budget decisions for Adventure Learning Programs, the Graduate University Tutorial Service and the Legal Information Center.
ALPs requested $98,678 for the 2002-03 school year budget, an amount nearly the triple the $35,325 the group received for the 2001-02 year. A majority of the extra funding ALPs requested was to fund a full-time staff position.
SSFC member Rob Staude supported the new addition.
“Adding this new position will provide consistency for ALPs, so each year [the group] coordinators won’t have to be re-trained for their positions,” Staude said.
After making cuts in other budget areas, such as travel, the SSFC finally awarded ALPs a total of $89,770.
ALPs co-coordinator Andy Gehl was happy with the amount.
“I am pleased that we got the full-time position,” he said. “It’s disappointing that other areas were cut, but that’s the trade-off.”
GUTS requested $82,729 for their 2002-03 budget. Initially, SSFC members suggested cutting small program costs, but SSFC member Scott Specter argued against these cuts.
“I don’t believe in nitpicking,” Specter said. “Let’s not cut the budget just to cut the budget. Let’s have some reasons.”
After brief debate, SSFC awarded the group the entire amount they requested.
The Legal Information Center requested $19,897 for next year’s budget, but many members of SSFC thought this amount was too high. Among these members was Matt Modell, who said LIC does not do enough to inform students of its availability and that it is not currently a very helpful service.
“This would be a great service but ? each year I think they do less and less,” Modell said.
Most of the additional LIC money was intended for a new computer, to give the three paid co-coordinators a raise from $10 to $12 an hour and to hire an office manager.
SSFC cut the budget in many areas, but gave LIC more advertising money than requested. SSFC also agreed to a pay increase for the co-coordinators from $10 to $10.25 an hour, after noting this position had not had a pay raise since LIC began in 1987. The final amount SSFC granted to LIC was $15,336.
SSFC chair Lamont Smith was happy with the way the committee voted on the three budget decisions.
“I think [SSFC] made very sound decisions, which were reflections on how well prepared the budgets were when we reviewed them,” Smith said.
The SSFC also held budget hearings for the College of Agricultural Life Sciences Learning Center, Sex Out Loud, and the Campus Women’s Center.
CALS requested $12,500 for the 2002-03 budget, up from $11,440 for the current budget. Most of the increase is intended to cover travel, stipends and more program supplies.
Sex Out Loud requested $46,170.20, an increase of 43 percent from their current budget.
The Campus Women’s Center requested $63,240, up from $54,425 for this year. The Campus Women’s Center said they need the increase to employ another coordinator.
The budget decisions for these three groups will be made Monday, Oct. 22.
