Budget Hearings for College Clubs: What to Expect at Your University

On almost every college campus, there is a student umbrella organization that disburses money to various student groups on campus. These groups include but are not in any way limited to: political groups, media groups, intramural and club sports, cultural and religious groups. The way that this money is distributed is usually determined by a group of fellow students who are elected to these financial positions and whose sole job is to determine how school budget money is distributed among the student body and student groups on campus.

Once a year, student groups have to make a financial presentation to this budget committee. The treasurer or Financial Director of that student group will have to submit a request for a specific amount of money that the organization is asking for the coming year or semester. Then the Financial Director of that student group will have to explain to the budget committee why they need that money and how the organization plans on allocating every dollar for the new year or semester. Finally, the Financial council will decide whether or not to award that student group the amount of money that they are asking for.

They council may also very likely decide to give the organization a lower amount of money than was originally asked for from them. For example, let's say that an organization is requesting $1,000; $200 of which will go towards buying pizza for weekly group meetings. The budget council might decide to give the group $800, thinking that pizza should be paid for out of the pockets of the group members instead of money coming from the budget council.

In the budget presentation that the student group's treasurer will have to make, the treasurer will also have to state the goals of the organization for the upcoming year and what changes and improvements the group plans on making. The president and treasurer of the group should also tell the financial council all of the group's achievements in the past year, including key events that the group hosted on campus, how many people went to it, and how many members the group is currently comprised of that come to weekly meetings.

Once all student groups have given their financial presentations to the budget council, the budget council will deliberate and distribute the money in the budget council account accordingly. Obviously, the more student groups there are on the college campus, the less money is there is for each group. The budget council is usually required to post the financial totals in a public area so that everyone can review the results of the budget council's deliberations. Once the budget council results have been posted, each student group then has the option of appealing the decision. This means that you make a second budget presentation to the same budget council in which they take a second look at your organization and possibly reconsider if your group should get more money than they originally allocated for your group.

The entire budget process is extremely grueling for the students who are members of the financial council as well as the members of each organization, all fighting to get as much money as possible for their student group.

During the course of an academic school year, the budget council also handles discretionary funding requests. For example, let's say that your student group wants to hold a special event during the year in which your organization is bringing a guest speaker to campus that costs several thousand dollars. The amount of money that your group has in your bank account is not enough to cover the costs of expenses to bring the speaker to campus. Your organization has the option of asking the budget council for more money if you have a specific event or idea that you want to do that you need the money for.