On Sept. 15, UNC Wilmington’s (UNCW) Student Government Association (SGA) Senate approved a new fiscal year budget.

Kyle Glover, SGA Treasurer, manages budget operations within the organization and leads SGA’s appropriations committee that oversees the allocation of SGA student fees.

“Before the era of COVID, there was a budget proposed and approved through the senate,” said Glover. “It was based on the idea that we were receiving our usual full-time student equivalent of 53 dollars.”

Each full-time student at UNCW typically pays 53 dollars to SGA, as part of their regular student fees. These fees allow SGA to operate, and allow student organizations across campus to apply for funding. SGA allocates funds to organizations such as ACE, which hosts events for students on campus. In addition, SGA provides students with seahawk savings, free legal consultations, rentals and scholarships.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the shift to online classes, SGA has received less in student fees. The amount paid per full-time student is now dependent on the number of in-person and online classes each student is taking, as online classes are cheaper than in-person classes. 

In a normal semester, SGA generally receives just over 300,000 dollars. This semester, SGA received 190,000 dollars in total revenue. This lack of funding led SGA to make changes to this fiscal year’s budget.

Glover stated that these changes will mainly affect students this year, as there were cuts made to student programming. The previous budget for the academic year was 658,000 dollars, covering both fall and spring semesters. The new budget approved by the senate solely covers the fall semester and is 190,000 dollars. 

“I think students should really care about this because in the era of COVID-19, a lot of things have been moved online,” said Glover. “We have received less requests for student org funding this year because of that. This is one thing I am really trying to push this year. For student orgs, if you need funding, we are still offering it. We are not doing student org travel funding, because the university does not want anyone traveling right now. We are still offering program and operational funding.” 

Although cuts have been made to student programs, SGA is still actively working to enhance the student experience. 

“SGA is still here, still operating, and still listening to students,” said Glover. “Students can contact SGA with any concern they have, and student organizations can still request funding.”

Kyle Glover can be reached at [email protected] if anyone has concerns.