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Student Groups: Your Budget Process Is Changing

By JACOB WEISSENBURG




The Student Association Board of Finance is hosting budget orientations to advise student groups on the new budget application process.

The next orientation for the 2020-2021 fiscal year will be held on Monday, December 2nd, in the campus center ballroom at 7:00 p.m.

“If you're a student group, during this time we would show you the necessary steps for the budget process, show you the dates, timelines, you’re able to meet a board member, and do a demo where we show you hands on how to submit a budget request,” Salazar said.

The 2019-2020 Board of Finance, which controls the entire 3.3 has set an ambitious goal for this academic year: to boost their productivity and effectiveness through a series of internal procedural changes, many of which were showcased at their most recent meeting on November 7th.

Another new initiative, the Liaison Assignment Program, was instituted as an attempt to help the board

While each member is assigned a specific amount of groups, the Chair is assigned the groups with the highest funding amounts, such as Five Quad, Middle Earth, Club Sports, and, most importantly, the internal operation budget of the SA.

There are a total of 86 student groups for this fiscal year, and each group is assigned to a liaison from the Board.

“I’m tasked with assigning every board member student groups that they’re responsible for checking up on, asking them questions, and compiling their budgets.” Salazar stated.

The Board of Finance is a special committee of Student Association, established to manage their fiscal responsibilities and correct any wrongdoings in financial policy.

Previous Boards lacked efficiency and effectiveness, according to this year’s Chairman of the Board of Finance, Samuel Salazar.

“Typically, the board has been inactive in years past, they really only met for budget,” Salazar said, referring to the internal budget of SA that pays for things like Camp Dippikill and the concerts put on by the SA Programing Board.“This year we are really focusing on financial review and doing things a lot earlier by pushing to make deadlines earlier, reviewing financial documents, reviewing credit card statements, and taking a more hands on approach.”

In addition to these new developments developments, the Board is attempting to organize a conference call with the Board of Finance Chairman at SUNY Buffalo.

“We want to have a conversation to compare budgets, to get an insight on what other SUNY schools are doing” said Board of Finance Vice Chair Molly Donelan.

To contact SA’s Board of Finance with questions and concerns, visit

https://www.albany.edu/studentassociation/boardoffinance.shtml.



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