Student club budgets unaffected by economy

While concerns about the economy are creating challenges for many parts of Saint Joseph's University, one area has remained largely unaffected. The amount of money designated for student organizations has not experienced the cuts that other parts of the university have.

According to Stacey Sottung, M.Ed. assistant director of Campus Programs, and Beth Hagovsky, Ed.D., director of Student Leadership and Activities, this year's budget provided by the Student Budget Allocation Committee was nearly the same as previous years'.

Hagovsky said, "The amount of money the SBAC has to allocate is the same from year to year because it is based on the number of students coming to Saint Joseph's and the student activity fee."

Those compiled student activities fees of $150 a year make up the $142,950 budget that will be distributed amongst the 69 student organizations for the 2009-2010 school year.

While the budget may stay the same, the price of goods and services has not.

The cost of food, rentals, and many other products and services used by student groups have fluctuated greatly in this past year.

Sottung explained that as costs increase, the purchasing power of groups' budgets will be smaller.

President of the Women's Organization, Emily Wesley, '09, has been able to face these issues by sticking to her budget and co-sponsoring events to save money.

"We had a really detailed budget that we made at the end of last spring and we left some money aside for some things that we hadn't planned for. We were able to shift things around to fit our needs," said Wesley.

Other organizations were not as fortunate in their planning. Scott Hine, '09, President of the Japanese Culture Club had to do some quick thinking and came up with a Japanese food sale.

"If it weren't for fundraising we wouldn't have money left over for spring events," he said. "Adjusting to the economic situation, some of our more expensive endeavors were reconsidered-we decided to do things cheaper because we wouldn't get money anyway."