With over 100 student organizations across campus, the Whitewater Student Government is estimating a total of $497,449 to be distributed. The first discussion on the annual Segregated University Fee Allocation Commission, or SUFAC, budget planning was held during the WSG’s weekly meeting on Nov. 14 in the University Center. 

Every academic year, the Whitewater Student Government creates a board to distribute funds to student organizations throughout campus. The organizations were sent a request form towards the beginning of the current semester and were then examined by the board to determine how the budget matched the requests. During the Nov. 11 meeting, the entirety of the student government was able to view the budget plan for both the main UW-Whitewater and UW-Rock County campuses. 

“Each one of these organizations are SUFAC eligible, meaning those that do not restrict membership, including but not limited to academic status, major, minor, race, color, and national origin,” said SUFAC Chair Matthew Schweinert. “These organizations are very important to us at SUFAC and to our campus.”

With a full return to campus occurring this fall for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, budgets have been higher. As a result, the board has readjusted their budgeting for the 2022-23 academic year.

“For context, at the beginning of this school year, a total of $126,479.36 was swept into the contingency fund, and $40,289 of this was received from the federal government,” said Schweinert. “For SUFAC last year, we allocated $86,280. This year, we felt we really shouldn’t have federal dollars in our contingency funds. It should only really be the dollars of our funds.”

WSG Speaker Justin Wesolek read aloud the requested funding from the organizations. Following the requests of the organizations, the SUFAC board makes recommendations based on the budget and request asked. This year, recommendations were kept to whole numbers to make the total easier to calculate. As the plan has been presented to the student government, it will await approval for a separate meeting. 

WSG will further discuss the SUFAC plan during their meeting on Monday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. in UC 259. All students are welcome to attend.