Budget and Funding Approval Process

While each student organization automatically receives $200 in discretionary funding per semester for general operating costs, cost overruns of events, and other similar expenditures, in order to receive money in excess of the $200 discretionary allocation, the organization treasurer must submit a budget request for additional funds to the SBA Chief Financial Officer before the budget request deadline has passed.

The deadline to submit Fall 2011 budget requests is Friday, September 16th at 5PM.

During the Fall Semester Budget Cycle, student organizations can request funding for events occurring during either the Fall or Spring semester. Student organizations who wish to plan ahead are encouraged to do so and request funding accordingly.

Budget requests MUST include the date of the event, line item breakdowns of items that the organization wishes to purchase as well as the price, and an alternative price quote from a competing establishment.

The following restrictions will apply to the expenditure of funding allocations:

  • The event must be open to the entire student body.
  • The event must be advertised on campus or via email.
  • No funds can be used for private parties or private social events.
  • No funds can be used for events for only the officers of an organization.
  • The event must be on campus unless the group has received prior SBA approval to hold an off campus event.
  • The funds cannot be used to make charitable or political donations.

Organizations are not to spend money in excess of their discretionary allocation until they receive their approved budgets from the SBA. The SBA will not reimburse money spent before the organization receives its approved budget absent exceptional circumstances.

Do not spend more money on an activity than has been allocated. If additional funds are needed for an activity, groups will have an opportunity to request supplemental funds following the close of the initial budget cycle.

The SBA will not allocate more money to cover cost overruns on an activity after it has taken place. Any cost overruns will have to be funded from the organization’s discretionary funding or from money already allocated to the student organization at the expense of other planned activities. Since allocations are event specific, only the SBA Chief Financial Officer may redesignate funds for this purpose.

Student organization treasurers must keep a current account of the amount of allocated funds the student organization has spent. The SBA Chief Financial Officer will not be responsible for informing student organizations of this information. Groups may utilize SBA allocated funds by submitting a Voucher Form for authorized expenses. See specific directions for payment and reimbursement requests.

The SBA reserves the right to reallocate any funds not spent by a student organization upon passage of the date on which an approved event was to occur. If you wish to change the date of your event you MUST notify the SBA Chief Financial Officer so that your funds will not be reallocated. The SBA further reserves the right to review and reallocate any and all funds that were previously allocated to a student group if the SBA determines that the event for which the funds were requested is no longer possible, or if the SBA determines that the group no longer needs the funds. In any event, at the end of each semester, any unspent allocated funds will revert to the SBA with the exception of funds allocated during the fall semester for spring events.

Please note: Student groups are expected to exercise fiscal responsibility with regard to the spending of discretionary budget allocations. Poor use of discretionary funds may adversely affect future allocations. An example of extravagant spending might be spending $200 on food for a 10 person group meeting. Any questions about this issue should be directed to the SBA Chief Financial Officer to avoid problems.

Budget forms: Budget forms are available on the SBA TWEN page under Budget Forms & Info, and otherwise will be made available upon email request sent to SBA@students.law.uconn.edu.