How would you like to spend 1.1 million dollars? Are you curious as to where your student fees are allocated? Would your organization like to receive some of the funding that this fee creates? If either of these ideas interest you, read on!

My name is Virginia Welch and I am this year’s Student Association Treasurer. My job involves many different areas, all revolving around the Student Activity Fee. Two of my responsibilities include chairing the Finance Committee and overseeing the student organization budgeting process. I would like to take this opportunity to explain both of these areas to you and invite you to get involved in the use of your Student Activity Fee.

The Finance Committee is the decision-making body where the budgeting decisions begin. It consists of approximately 12 students and meets every Tuesday and Wednesday night. Committee members meet with organizations on an individual basis to help design their budgets and then the committee, as a whole, votes on the porposed budgets and the requested changes. Being a member of Finance Committee gives students an excellent opportunity to gain insight on how the budgeting process functions and how real world budgeting processes are undertaken. It is open to all majors and anyone interested in applying for Finance Committee should fill out an aplication in the Student Association office. Interviews will be conducted the week of September 20th and the first meeting has been scheduled for September 28, 1993 at 9:00 p.m.

The Student Activity Fee is used to fund some 85 different organizations who provide a variety of services to students at Northern Illinois University. Although the budgets for this school year have already been allocated, at 1:00 p.m. on Sept. 15 in room 405 of the Holmes Student Center, workshops will be held for the 1994-1995 school year. The workshops will cover the guidelines that are used in deciding the uses of the Student Activity Fee and the process an organization must go through in order to receive funding. Any organization interested in receiving funding must attend one of the workshops. The workshops will be very beneficial for persons in charge of creating their organization’s Student Association allocated budget.

Many guidelines are used in order to insure that funding is fair and consistent. The following list gives an idea of some of the guidelines used. First and foremost, organizations must be recognizaed by the Student Association. The recognition packet is available in the Student Association office and is due by 4:00 p.m. on Sept. 13. Second, the Student Association will not fund any individual sorority or fraternity, religiuous organization, or those organizations affiliated with political parties and/or engaged in the sole backing of political causes. Lastly, organizations must have membership open to the entire student body.

For more information on the budget workshops or the Finance Committee, please contact Gin Welch, Student Association Treasurer, at 753-0482.