By Funding for student organization travel and grant application hearings was a topic at the Associated Students Inc. financial meeting at Long Beach State on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The ASI meeting focused on allocating funds to provide assistance, cover travel costs for conferences, competitions and other events focused on the CSULB community.
Following discussions from the Feb. 4 meeting on how to allocate additional funds, the board agreed to allocate $10,000 to the student travel fund, leaving $20,000 for Spring 2025 periodic programs, which will increase allocation awards from 50% to 75%, according to the ASI agenda.
Andre Achacon, ASI vice president of finance, said that the admission of additional students for the school year caused the budget to increase, as more students contributed to the student fees collected.
“Bottom line, enrollment was so much higher this year, and that means that as ASI we charge the student fee every semester,” Achacon said. “So we took a look at our budget and tried to figure out if there were additional funds to allocate as a one-time financial grant to support students and organizations through our existing grant programs.”
The additional student fees, as Achacon pointed out, give ASI the ability to further support student organizations by providing more resources for initiatives.
However, as Achacon explained, the funding process can be unpredictable since the number of applicants isn’t known until the middle of the year.
“The reason why we voted to allocate to an unrestricted fund is because we approve grants on a rolling basis, so we never really know how many students will apply for grants each year until the middle of the year,” Achacon said. “So, this unrestricted additional funding will be used once we exhaust our funds.”
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kerr said allocating the additional revenue Achacon mentioned was an easy decision for ASI and all those involved because it supported the goal of enhancing the college experience for students.
“Just thinking back to my time as a student, any opportunities to do things outside of just the normal day-to-day—like just showing up to class—enhances the college experience,” Kerr said. “The more opportunities we can provide through ASI that add to students’ education is really exciting.”
Kerr’s focus on creating more opportunities for students showed in the grant hearings, where student organizations requested funding for travel.
These funds, as noted by biochemistry student Italy Escobar play a role in building connections for students.
“It’s nice because it’s for the community, and that’s always important to have,” Escobar said. “If they have funding, I really like what they do for people.”
