VSA passes budgeting changes

Julianne Herts Assistant News Editor

Academic departments and programs that used to rely on the Vassar Student Association (VSA) for funding have had to look elsewhere since the creation of the College Academic Fund in November 2007.

Last year’s VSA Academic Committee created the Academic Fund in the hopes of streamlining the academic grant application process and easing the pinch on the VSA’s budget.

Consequently, students and committees who wish to host academic events may no longer apply to the VSA for a grant.

To clarify this change in procedure, the VSA Council issued a memo on April 7, which notes that “In the past years more and more students have been coming to the VSA Council for VSA funds for academic purposes—major’s committees, individuals, and groups of students applying for funding for departmental events, senior projects, and individual academic pursuits.”

Academic departments in particular will have to look outside the VSA for funding. “If a department is putting on an event it’s that office’s responsibility to fund it,” said VSA President Sam Charner ’08.

It is for this very purpose that the College Academic Fund was established. “The Dean of Faculty used to allocate money to academic departments and programs,” explained VSA Vice President for Finance Jessica Cho ’08. “This was moved to the College Academic Fund.”

If a group needs money for academic purposes, its members must apply for a grant from the College Academic Fund through the Dean of Studies Office. Money from the Academic Fund can be used by each department to pay for the all of the academic events that it sponsors, including those attended by students on its major committee.

Charner noted that the Academic Fund actually makes it much easier for different groups to receive grants. Before its creation, Charner noted, “You would haphazardly go around to different offices and try to get funding.”

Students who had previously wanted academic grants needed to get in touch with several different
administrators and contact each department directly. With the College Academic Fund in place, students can submit one grant application and receive the funding they need.

Students and faculty members can apply for a grant from the College Academic Fund for a number of reasons. The Academic Fund is intended to fund events that students can get credit to participate in, as well as annual academic conferences and guest lectures.

Majors committees can still receive money from the VSA, but they must do so through a grant from the Special Purpose Fund. The VSA Council sets aside funding for specific purposes agreed upon during the allocation of the spring budget. These purposes often include specific events and activities that various organizations wish to host throughout the year. Major committees can apply to receive a portion of this Special Purpose Fund and receive the same consideration as any other organization, with the stipulation that students cannot receive credit for participating in the event being funded.

The events hosted by major committees, the memo states, “are of a purely academic or administrative nature, [thus] the use of the VSA’s limited budget is not appropriate.”

The VSA’s annual budget is mostly funded by the $275 Student Activity Fee (SAF) which each student contributes. The VSA oversees SAF allocation.

The Council uses these grants to provide money to student organizations and individual groups of students who wish to host events and programs. Money taken from the SAF is used to fund programs run by and for students This, as the recent memo stresses, is why department-run programs do not qualify for VSA grants and must instead turn to the College Academic Fund.