Every fall, the Student Budget Activities Committee (SABC) is tasked with sifting through club appeals and allocations. While club budgets are finalized during the spring semester, clubs, sometimes, need more money than they had originally asked for or they wish to spend money differently than they had originally proposed. In either case, the club needs the approval of the SABC.

The chairperson of the 11-person committee is Zihui Ye, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’15, who also serves as the treasurer for United Student Government (USG). SABC approves budgets for all clubs at FCLC and has authority to distribute more money or reallocate club funds if necessary.

So far, approximately 20 out of FCLC’s 48 active clubs on campus have submitted forms for an appeal or an allocation this fall semester

Ye, an international student from China, said, “I really enjoy the process of helping students. If people have any questions, troubles or even if they have no questions and just want to talk to me, I am willing to talk to them.”

Louise Lingat, USG president, FCLC ’15, also sits on the SABC executive board and said, “We have approved most of the clubs’ budget appeals and allocations. “

When asked if SABC has had to deny any budget appeals this semester, Lingat responded, “The only time we have to turn down a budget appeal or allocation is when the purpose of the monies does not fulfill the club’s mission or purpose.”

“Part of my passion is helping as many clubs as possible get their appeals and allocations approved,” Ye added. “I know it’s important for clubs to get money in order to make their events happen, so I do try my best to help them through the process.”

Subrina Chowdhury, vice president of the Muslim Students Association, FCLC ’14, said, “the more active a club is, the more events a club has, and the more people that come to the club’s events guarantees that the appeals will be approved sooner.”

Jagpal Khahera, president of the psychology club, FCLC ’14, said, “The only issue we had was that a movie we wanted to play was played two years ago so we didn’t get funding for that. Also, during Club Day, we wanted to give away two items, but we only received funding for one.”

Chowdhury also said, “Once the budgets are finalized, I think less active clubs are less pleased with their budget packets. But, the problem there is that they want to be more active but they can’t be because they don’t have enough funding.”

Ye did admit that there are “referendum clubs, which may seem to be getting more money than other clubs. These clubs are USG, the Office of Student Leadership and Campus Activities Board (CAB).”

According to Ye, the extra funding for these clubs is necessary because they run events that benefit all the clubs. For instance, “USG has the SABC committee which has to have funding to help all the other clubs,” Ye said. “These clubs also put on events like Under the Tent Dance and Winterball, which require more money.”

There are caps for all the clubs’ budgets to make sure that no club receives an unfair amount. One of the caps pertains to club events. “No event can exceed $2,500 for any club except the referendum clubs, ” Ye said.

After going through SABC’s budget approval process, Khahera said, “I learned that it’s just as important to not ask for more than you absolutely need for an event.”