Turn up the funds

Decreased enrollment rates affect Student Government’s finance division

Student Governments Finance Division recently had to turn away a funding request for this school year’s Turn Up the Good, simply because the funds are just not there.

According to Ferris healthcare systems administration and radiology senior and the Director of Finance Arshano McKenzie, Student Government is funded by the Student Activity Fund, which is a $20 fee that each student pays for campus activities, such as Turn Up the Good.

“The Student Activity Fund is a voluntarily fee, meaning that not every student has to pay the $20. It automatically gets tacked on to tuition, but it can be refunded,” said Ferris social work junior and Administrative Assistant for Student Government Charlotte Haim. “That means that the overhead fund Student Government works with correlate to enrollment and how many students pay the fee.”

The overall enrollment rate this year is down 3.6 percent from the previous year, leaving the Student Activity Fund with approximately $10,500 less to work with than last year.

“The Music Industry Management Association asked for roughly $80,000 for this years Turn Up the Good and we only had around $60,000 to work with this semester,” Mckenzie said. “Stated in our bylaws, we are only allowed to allocate up to 75 percent of what we make per semester, for the following semester, which left us at about $20,000 to work with.”

According to Mckenzie, Student Government were not willing to give them all they had to work with, but were willing to negotiate prices. However, MIMA decided it would be better for them to come back in the spring semester.

“It was their decision to walk away this semester, but we told them that if they come back at the beginning of spring semester, they would catch us at a time when we had a bigger budget to spend,” McKenzie said.