ASUSU 2011-12 budget set at $900,000
Student satisfaction with ASUSU events remains a question to be answered for 2011-12 programming vice president Zach Larsen and adviser Kevin Webb. Larsen and Webb have constructed a survey regarding recent campus events, Larsen said.
“One of the questions we asked was, ‘Would you rather pay for a higher-end act to come, or a lesser one but be able to get in for free?'” Larsen said. “For the most part, it’s split down the middle in that category.”
He said a third option was included under the question that allows respondents to say, “It depends on the event.” The HOWL, for example, is an event students seem willing to pay for, he said, as opposed to Poetry and a Beverage.
“There really is that medium that we need to find,” Larsen said. “A bigger-name event, obviously, the survey shows that people are willing to pay for it.”
He also said Marie Squires, the arts and lectures director, is looking to do multiple smaller events as opposed to one big one. This way, Larsen said the goal to pique more students’ interests will hopefully be met.
Dollars and Sense
Administrators of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center (SILC) delegate the annual budget for various ASUSU departments, which consist of student involvement, programmers, legislators, senators and others.
Interim Director Linda Zimmerman said she wants everyone to know that following the controversy with funding the B.J. Novak performance, the dealings of the SILC are completely transparent.
Each year the budget numbers fluctuate based on how the university is faring with the economy, as well as levels of student enrollment and student activity fees, Zimmerman said. Activities and programming are projected to have roughly $170,000 to work with for the upcoming academic year.
“It all depends on the funding too, what the HOWL makes and what they’ve got planned,” Zimmerman said. “This year they’re planning lots of events for the End of Year bash, so they’ve saved quite a bit of money to bring in different groups for that.”
The 2009-10 numbers in comparison with projections for 2011-12 show that the activities director should have $30,000 more to work with, according to year-to-date ASUSU financial reports. Combined funding for the arts and lectures director and traditions director stayed the same at around $105,000.
“Each director we have is different from year to year,” Zimmerman said. “They have their budgets and they have the option to do whatever they want and their committee and volunteers choose.”
Larsen said he views his job as being about making the students happy and not so much about doing what he wants.
The final numbers for the 2010-11 academic year will not be available until this summer, said SILC business manager Lynne Singleton. Even then, she said, there is such a massive amount of data that some of the final totals are subject to change.
The Biggest Event of the Year
The HOWL is the biggest event ASUSU programming organizes on an annual basis, Webb said. From the money generated through HOWL ticket sales, ASUSU Programming is able to add funding to all of its other events, he said.
In 2006, they stopped selling advance tickets to non-students, Webb said, which is when ASUSU programmers began putting a lot more focus on student satisfaction. All of the profit from the HOWL goes directly into the programming budget in order to fund the rest of the year’s events.
“We decided that we should be putting more money into the HOWL to make it a better event,” Webb said.
He said the HOWL generated about $50,000 in profit last year. Without that kind of money, Webb said, student fees would be $3 or $4 more each year.
Zimmerman said next year the number of people that will be allowed in at the HOWL will be capped around 6,000. Last year there were close to 7,000 attendees.
“There’s always stuff you can do better,” Webb said. “Every individual is different, every council is different, I think that this year has been phenomenal in the fact that they tried.”
Putting USU on the Map
Webb said the vision recently elected ASUSU vice presidents and directors has already begun to impress him. One of the goals of the events that programmers organize is to put USU on the map in order to benefit student enrollment and retention.
Webb said he is excited for next year because there are two new ideas already in the works. He said students can look forward to a cinema series and a once-monthly, low-budget event similar to Poetry and a Beverage.
“We’re going to have a comedian or a small band, just fun, little things so there’s more stuff for the students to do,” Webb said. “Because the biggest complaint we got is, ‘You’re bringing in these big-name acts but there’s only three of them all year,’ so we’re trying to move money around and really understand what students want.”
He said the Admissions office has sponsored a few of the events that went on this year, which is proof that event planning is a benefit to the university.
“Overall it’s been a really good year,” Webb said. “The name recognition for the university with the big–name acts, the bands – whatever your personal opinion is of bringing B.J. Novak or big-name bands – it, in a sense, does put Utah State on the map.”
This year has been polarizing, Webb said. There have been both negative and positive responses to the survey he and Larsen have sent out, he said.
Following the Money
Zimmerman said, citing the 2011-12 projected ASUSU financial report, increases in student fees reflect a $30,000 increase for activities and personnel. She also said The Utah Statesman has been granted an additional $1 per student, per year.
After the numbers are tallied at the end of each year and it is decided whether each ASUSU department has profited or ended up “in the red,” a goal amount of $58,000 is flushed out and put into a Capital and Support fund. Other monies are also appropriated to the Academic Opportunity Fund (AOF).
“The purpose of the Academic Opportunity Fund is to provide financial support to undergraduate students,” according to the statutes of the AOF allocation committee, “who have been accepted or invited by a reputable organization to present a scholastic achievement or participate in an academic competition.”
Both of these funds are excellent resources for students, Zimmerman said. The recent bouncy ball drop was partially funded by money appropriated from Capital and Support, as well as money from the science council and physics students.
Zimmerman said she and the other administrators in her office only deal with money appropriated by student fees. For some of the larger events, a number of groups with vested interests will pull together to make something happen, she said.
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu