SGB hears fiscal year 2025 budget requests

During its weekly meeting on Tuesday at Nordy’s Place, the Student Government Board reviewed proposals from several student organizations for their 2025 fiscal year budgets. 

“Budgets are intended to support long-term planning for clubs, while regular allocations funding is designated for spring semester events,” Allocations Chair Nicole Zheng said. 

The board hears budgets twice per fiscal year. According to Zheng, the board’s approved budgets totaled $80,000 in March. 

“Allocations has approved $330,807.13 in supplemental requests,” Zheng said. “This, combined with the March 2024 budgets, totals to $411,511.48 of fiscal year [2025] spending. This is across 176 supplemental requests this year.” 

SGB oversees an annual budget of $900,000 to allocate to student organizations at Pitt. This budget is funded entirely by the student activities fee. All full-time undergraduate students, excluding those in the College of General Studies, pay a $100 student activities fee per semester. 

In October, SGB president Sarah Mayer met with the acting dean of students, Lorraine Craven, to consider increasing the student activity fee to accommodate the increasing number of allocations requests. 

“The student activities fund just can’t bear the weight of every request,” Mayer said. “We’re trying to meet the demand, but we’re already kind of on track to run out of money.”

At a past meeting, Board member Andrew Elliot voiced concerns about the growing size of allocation requests.

“We have $900,000 to give out every year. It sounds like a lot of money, but there are over 800 clubs at Pitt,” Elliott said. “Continuing to fund these large dollar amounts may become more challenging for us specifically because of the quantity of requests we have.” 

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved $87,947 in budget allocations.

Budgets:

Chabad House on Campus requested $30,769.50 for its yearly budget, but the board amended and approved only $979.92, enforcing a $50,000 cap on the total yearly funding awarded to the group.

Pitt Engineering Student Council requested $3,107.58 to hold an event and attend a conference as part of its yearly budget. The board amended and approved the request to $3,039.80. 

National Society of Black Engineers requested $8,199.70 to hold several events as a part of its yearly budget. The board amended and approved the request to $4,560.08. 

Society of Astronautics and Rocketry requested $27,935.55 to purchase new equipment and hold several events as part of its yearly budget. The board amended and approved the request to $10,000. 

Pittsburgh Electric Propulsion requested $13,834.73 as a part of its yearly budget. The board voted to postpone voting on this request until a later date to review the request further.

Panther Racing requested $67,592.69 to build a race car. The board amended and approved the request to $48,000.

Pitt Ski and Snowboard Club requested $73,021.98 to hold several trips. The board denied this request in full. 

Pakistani Student Association requested $16,115.50 to hold an event. The board amended and approved the request to $15,368.

Habitat for Humanity requested $24,501.01 for general expenses, but the allocations committee recommended denying the request in full. As a result, the organization withdrew its proposal before the Board could vote.

Model African Union requested $14,233.09 to attend a conference. The board amended and approved the request to $6,000.

Allocations:

Engineers Without Borders requested $3,984.92 to attend a conference. The board approved the request in full. 

At last week’s meeting, Pitt Ski and Snowboard Club requested $14,200 to cover transportation costs for a trip. The board voted asynchronously to amend and approve the request to $12,000.

Last week, Asian Student Alliance requested $12,500 to hold an event. The board postponed voting on the request to today to allow time for further review. Today, they approved the request in full.