Student Council recently released a list of the 80 clubs requesting a combined total of $1,137,671.05 in funding for the spring semester. The individual requests ranged from just $500 to more than $100,000.
Council will review the requests and hopes to make all final appropriations by late December, said Neil Branch, Council’s vice president for organizations. Branch said funding requests had to, first, fit the guidelines set down by the Board of Visitors and Student Council.
“After that, we evaluate organizations’ other funding sources for these projects or if they are relying on Student Council solely for these funds,” fourth-year College student Branch said in an email. “The big question and focus really is what is the benefit of these funds for the student body and for these student organizations.”
The differences in amounts requested among the clubs is due to a number of factors, including membership size, planned activities for the semester and nature of the club.
The Virginia Sailing Association is one example of a high-cost club. President Chris Stessing, a fourth-year Engineering student, said the sailing club, which is ranked among the top 25 nationally, needed Student Council dollars to remain competitive.
“Varsity and club sailing teams compete on the same level,” Stessing said in an email. “Fully funded varsity programs with multiple paid coaches compete against club teams with no coaching and no boats.”
The Virginia Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team is in a similar situation, competing against both club and varsity teams, VASST President Paul Moniuszko said.
“The amount requested reflects the swell in membership [that the club experienced],” Moniuszko said in an email.
Neither club, however, expects to have all their requests met. Council rarely funds all of clubs’ requests, and Branch said the spring semi-annual round normally had a lower percentage of funding approved than in other rounds.
“The percentage [Student Council] funds typically ranges from 20 to 45 percent of requests,” Branch said in an email. “The percentage may be much lower in the semi-annual process near 20 percent but this is also when requests either come close or go over $1 million.”
Access the full list of requests here.
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