Editor’s Note: The author of this article serves as an at-large member of the Budget and Finance committee.

The Student Government Association (SGA) Budget and Finance Committee released on Friday their draft of the 2025-2026 operating budget.

Student groups can see the draft budget awards in an email sent by SGA President Lillian Sellers on Friday morning. A physical copy of the document has also been posted publicly in the display window outside the SGA office (CUB 201). 

After several years of drastic cuts, many groups may be surprised to learn that their budgets have remained consistent or grown slightly. 

This change in momentum is largely thanks to revenue from an increase to the Student Activity Fee which went into effect for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. 

While the fee increase was implemented too late to be factored into student group budget decisions last year, the increased funds gave the committee more flexibility in awarding student groups’ requests for the upcoming year. 

Sellers’ email encourages student groups to review their budget awards and to consider meeting with the Budget and Finance Committee to discuss their awards. The dates for these meetings are Feb. 25 and March 4. Links to sign up for these meetings were included in the email on Feb. 21.

The next step for the budget is to be approved by the university president before being officially adopted by SGA in April. 

In total, the draft budget estimates revenues — largely from student activity fees — at $3,016,025. Expenses are budgeted at $3,034,315.60. That leaves a $18,290 deficit, which according to SGA VP of Finance Nathan Garber, will be offset with leftover funds from special funding requests.

For the 2024-2025 budget, the additional revenue from student activity fees was allocated to several reserve funds, including $120,000 set aside for special funding requests. 

These requests are available to most student groups, in amounts up to $1,000 for clubs and club sports, and $2,000 for organizations, boards, performing arts and student media. 

Despite being available, only a handful of special funding requests have been received, and only a small fraction of the $120,000 allocated for the program has been distributed to groups. 

Athletics

Changes to the Budget and Finance standing rules last year placed a limit on the percentage of expected activity fees that could be awarded to intercollegiate athletics at 60%. For the 2025-2026 budget, that comes out to $1,570,557.60. Unlike other student groups, the budgets for intercollegiate athletics are handled by the athletics department, which receives a lump sum. 

This appears to be an increase of about $110,000 from last year’s allocation of $1,459,203.20, but that does not account for funding that athletics received from the university last year to make up for cuts from SGA.

As for club sports, the draft budget allocates $44,226 compared to this year’s $39,951. 

That is an increase of just over $4,000. A large portion of this increase is accounted for by the Ice Hockey Club, which saw its budget grow from $6,300 to $8,676.

Student Groups

Compared to other budget categories, student clubs saw the most substantial increase. Put together, clubs saw a 114% increase, from $4,385 to $9,370. The awards vary in size, with the lowest being $50 for the Investment Club, and the highest being Chess Club’s award of $1,950. 

Part of that 114% increase was due to several clubs receiving a budget for the first time — Ski/Snowboard, Urban Flow, Investment, Reach Out, Tau Kappa, Social Work, Human Resources Management, Golf, Honors Student Organization and Not So Hidden Figures. 

Student Organizations

This category saw an increase of $2,200, split across groups such as the Residence Hall Association, Green League, the three Greek Councils, MSA-related organizations as well as several others.

One of these groups, the International Students Organization, saw their budget increase from $400 to $705.

Of the three Greek Councils, MESA saw a $100 increase to their current $1,900 budget, while Panhellenic Council went from $75 to $400. Meanwhile, IFC saw a cut from $845 to $400. 

Performing Arts

As a group, student performing arts saw a $1,660 increase. Most groups saw a small increase to their budget of a few hundred dollars. There are two groups, however, that stand out. 

Marching Band, which received $79,400 in the 2024-2025 budget, was awarded $82,000. 

Meanwhile, Shippensburg Community Orchestra saw a budget cut of 62%, from $5,000 to $1,900. 

Boards

There are only three boards, the Activities Programming Board (APB), Homecoming and Student Government itself. 

All three boards saw their budgets remain the same. APB received $90,500. Homecoming remains at $14,000, and SGA at $2,825.  

Student Media

All five student media organizations saw small increases to their budgets. Shippensburg’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and SUTV both saw a $40 increase. The Reflector and The Slate were awarded an additional $200, while WSYC saw their award increase by $250. 

In total, an additional $730 was allocated to student media groups. 

Management and Student Services 

The final category includes line items for various student services and related expenses. Among these are payroll for Fiscal Office employees and CUB staff, as well as funding for Memorial Auditorium. 

This area saw an increase of just over $100,000, growing from $896,819 to $998,372. These expenses, however, are largely out of control of the Budget and Finance committee’s control.

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