As we come past the midpoint of the fall semester, student organizations on campus are getting into the swing of their fiscal year with recent budget approvals by Keene State College (KSC) student government.
However, there have been budgetary shortcomings for student organizations and The Equinox is concerned about the effect this may have on student involvement.
Recent reviews of student organization budgets by the KSC Student Government has left groups short with a 10 percent cut across the board. Start-up groups such as the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Club (ESSC) have been struggling to get their feet under them according to junior Lena Goins, president of the organization. It is difficult trying to navigate the messy process of budget submission, making sure there is a justification for budget allotments and hoping the submission of the Google Form with the budget makes it to the Office of Student Involvement (OSI). However, Goins added that because of a miscommunication between the group and OSI led to delays in funding and drastic cuts to the proposed budget. This affects the more established student organizations as well. Senior Ryan Rotigliano, general manager of WKNH radio station, expressed similar worries as well, concerned about the stress of budgeting for the unforeseen future and the lack of formal training. This seems like a recipe for disaster.
We share a lot of these concerns and stressors with our fellow student organizations. It seems to be poor planning on KSC to have student organizations self-train for the budgetary process. Streamlining the process by having a formal and standard training program would help students anticipate how to allocate funding and understand what OSI is looking for in a budget proposal.
Yet, it also seems hypocritical and disingenuous on the part of KSC to emphasize the importance of student involvement programs, just to limit the funding of those programs by 10 percent across all groups. Actions of this manner do not give the most positive look for the college. The uncertainty fostered by this dysfunction, does not make student organizations seem as interesting or appealing as they should be, possibly leading to issues of student retention. There is a similar issue with communication as well.
Student organizations should be able to more clearly communicate issues with budgeting, as well as communicate issues to the student group as well. That was one of the issues that Goins ran into as well as submission issues. KSC is a public school with a subscription deal to the Microsoft Suite and a budget of nearly $100 million dollars. Why is the school using Google Forms as the mode of transmission for budget proposals? They should be utilizing the more effective computer programs they have at their disposal, while making sure that proposals have been received for review.
It seems as though the budgeting system for student organizations would benefit from much-needed overhaul.
