A committee of student government unanimously approved a budget for Veterans, Educators and Traditional Students and heard budget proposals from Student Leadership Program and Associated Students of Madison Monday.
VETS, which works to educate students about veterans’ issues and experiences from University of Wisconsin students who have firsthand experience serving in the military, requested $32,896 from the Student Services Finance Committee.
The organization’s corrected budget of $32,987 was approved by SSFC.
SSFC Secretary Brett Ducharme expressed concern that 20 hours per week for director line positions may be too much. The group unanimously agreed and approved a decrease to 10 hours, producing a $290 decrease.
A correction, due to a math error on the program budget, added $200, to make the budget $5,580, was also unanimously approved.
ASM Student Council Chair Gen Carter and Vice Chair Derek Field proposed ASM’s 2016 budget proposal for a total of $1,400,514.
ASM asked for $988,513 for support for students and student organizations, $273,853 for leadership development and programming and $138,148 for administrative functions.
ASM also requested $19,115 for two new food pantry student staff members. Carter said ASM plans to add two 20 hour per week positions to create an on-campus food pantry for low-income students who are currently choosing between paying rent or buying food.
The pantry would likely be based out of the Student Activity Center or the Red Gym, she said.
Students’ confidentiality would need to be taken into account when trying to monitor which students are taking advantage of the service, Carter said.
She said UW-Stevens Point has a similar program which uses forms and the swipe of a student ID to address this.
Field said ASM is hoping for volunteers from other organizations they work with to get involved, and said ASM did not want to approach the initiative through another committee because of the extra time it would take.
Ducharme said more planning should be done with more defined ideas on the initiative. He said based on what SSFC was shown, the committee would be allowing a large sum of money to go behind a little planning if the line item was approved.
Advertising techniques have already been planned, as ASM has seen a commitment from the Office of Financial Aid and union groups as great partners to help reach their target audience, Carter said.
The ASM representatives agreed to email more information and details to SSFC before the budget decision Thursday.
Representatives from Student Leadership Program proposed a budget of $56,693 for fiscal year 2015.
The group works to get students involved in leadership, according to the group’s leadership events and training coordinator, Megan Ketterhagen.
“Our mission is to develop effective and essential leadership skills in students and student groups through comprehensive leadership education and diverse experiences,” Ketterhagen said.
Learned leadership, student development, intentional actions, inclusivity, integrity and authenticity are all values of the group, she said.
The organization underspent in many budget lines, mainly advertising and lines related to finances because their financial coordinator stepped down halfway through last year, Ketterhagen said.
A committee chair also stepped down, but was replaced in just two weeks. Their budget for last year was $65,953, financial coordinator Joey Janz said.
The organization is implementing a way to have people trained for their paid positions before anyone steps down to help prevent another year with a 27.2 percent return on the budget, outreach coordinator Matt Holtz said.
SSFC Vice Chair Thuy Pham said 20 hours a week for each employee seemed to be too much for summer, and members of SLP agreed their proposed budget could be cut down to accommodate for less work hours during the summer months.
The budget decision will be made Thursday.
