Last week, the Student Activities Committee’s budget was cut by $11,517 dollars. The cut was made to compensate for a budget shortfall that came from a drop in enrollment and increased expenses, such as transportation fees.

SAFAC was projected to have a budget surplus of $12,000 this year and increased the amount of money available for clubs and organizations on campus. When the budget shortfall occurred, SAFAC couldn’t afford the extra spending without removing spending from another organization. An estimated $71,365 that needed to be covered by budget cuts.

Marissa Winters, leader of SAFAC, said that they tried their best to avoid taking money away from the clubs on campus that needed it.

“We had a strong team of people this year and we tried really hard to work through this as quickly, efficiently and carefully as possible to get the funding for the clubs,” Winters said.

Marissa worked with Assistant Director of Student Activities Scott Ewing, and Accounting Officer Mari Haecherl. The difference will be paid primarily with excess money in the SAFAC accounts. A total of $25,000 was taken from SAFAC’s reserve account. SAC was chosen to cover the remaining $11,517.

While SAC may have lost funding, they were able to afford it thanks to new contracts. When the theater was moved from the first floor of the student center to Mustang Zone, a new movie contract was implemented. The new contract allows SAC to present the movies in a public showing and costs $9,000 ($750 per movie, with 12 movies over the year), versus the old contract which costed $22,000. This dramatic decrease in costs gave SAC a balance of $13,000, meaning that SAC could afford the $11,517 cut.

After SAFAC and the Student Senate voted unanimously in favor of allocating funds from SAFAC’s reserved accounts, it was sent to President Gores for final approval.

To learn more, you can visit the SAFAC office in the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement in SC 217.