The ASUO sponsors more that 160 student-led programs, and they all get their money from one place: the Programs Finance Committee.
With seven members, the PFC allocates just under $2 million in funding. Groups’ budgets range in size from $300 — the usual amount allocated for a new student group — to hundreds of thousands of dollars for large organizations such as the Multicultural and Women’s centers.
“The reason the PFC is so important is it’s the human face of the ASUO for so many people,” former PFC chair Noah Wolf-Prusan said.@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/pfc.php?a=162@@
The funding process starts with what is called budget training. Every year, the ASUO programs administrator, an executive staff member who assists programs with student government processes, explains the budget process to each group and shows them the materials they’ll need to go through it.
“I felt like I was the organizer and (Wolf-Prusan) was the executor,” said Sinjin Carey@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Sinjin+Carey@@, a former programs administrator.
The first step is the Benchmark Memo, which all student-led programs are busy preparing for this month.
“A benchmark memo says basically whether their plans for the 2012-2013 school year will be higher or lower than last year,” Sen. Laura Hinman said.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Lau@@
This helps the PFC prepare its benchmark report — a statement of how much the overall programs budget will go up or down — for the full student Senate.
One of the terms involved in this process is current service level. At the beginning of each year, Student Affairs prepares a lengthy memo to groups estimating how much things like advertising, travel, office supplies and salaries will cost. These estimates allow groups to plan how much money they will need to maintain the same level of services they currently provide.
Alongside all this, the executive is preparing its own budget recommendations for every student group. As well as taking into account the executive’s benchmark report, which is presented to the senate at the same time as the committee’s own report, these recommendations are presented alongside each program’s proposed budget at their budget hearings during winter term.
But well before that hearing, groups meet with PFC members to get their budgets ready.
@@Okay, here is where the story picks up again from the end of the third paragraph.@@Each group has a PFC member assigned to help them through the process. These assignments are called tags. Each member is assigned a range of the alphabet and works with every group whose name starts with one of those letters. This ends up being roughly 20-25 programs per group.
“I, on average, met with a group four times,” Hinman said. “We go over each line item, how much money they spent on each event last year. It’s walking them through the process; it’s complicated, and there’s a lot to it.”
Hinman has seen her share of issues during this process.
“Groups ask for $10,000 when, realistically, they are only going to get $1,200,” Hinman said.
“People go into PFC with a level of expectations,” Wolf-Prusan added. “It’s a hard thing because everyone comes in thinking it’s their money to get.”
Through meeting with their tags, and with representatives in the Controller’s Office, groups can be better prepared for their hearings.
“This time right now is so much more important than the budget hearings,” Wolf-Prusan said.