Marking the end of this semester’s student-fee appropriations, the SGA denied a CapEx request on Nov. 27 from the highest paid student organization at UNCW, the Association for Campus Entertainment.

Why? ACE asked for too much.

Every year, $53 of each student’s fees is given to the SGA for distribution among UNCW’s registered student organizations. Almost $700,000 in total was collected this year. That money is divided into three categories: student organization budgets, special activities funding, and the Capital Expenditure Fund, or CapEx. 

Some student organizations request a specific budget, while others receive a certain dollar amount from every full-time student. On paper, full-time students are counted in FTE, or “full-time equivalent.” ACE is an FTE participant, and already receives the largest portion of SGA funding, almost $250,000 at the beginning of the year for their budget alone.

Then they applied for more.

With CapEx, student orgs can apply for a single item too expensive to put in their budget. Patrick Lecompte, the SGA’s treasurer, is responsible for making sure all the required paperwork is in order before presenting the request to the appropriations committee, which votes to approve or deny. If the request  is voted through, appropriations puts it before the senate as a recommendation.

“[The senate] makes sure it makes sense and is a good use of student fee money, and then they vote,” Lecompte said.

If the organization is in good standing with the university, meaning they have completed a required budget workshop before the upcoming fiscal year, and the request is in line with their mission statement, the senate will grant their request.

ACE met the requirements and filled out the paperwork. They were still denied.

 

ACE’s case

This year, ACE asked SGA to purchase a new MacPro computer for $2,528 and a software program, Adobe Photoshop, for their office. There was enough money in CapEx at the time of the Nov. 13 meeting for the SGA to approve both requests, and the appropriations committee recommended approval.

But the SGA had questions (see meeting minutes for full transcript)

Is ACE a student organization? ACE is a student org, run by a committee of students, not administrators, it was argued.  Doesn’t ACE have computers already? Not enough.

Doesn’t ACE make their own revenue? Yes. Don’t they purchase their own equipment with that revenue? Usually.

Is it bad practice to allow an FTE participant to tap into CapEx, or is it double dipping, asked Keith Fraser, president of the SGA.

That question couldn’t be answered.

A move to debate the request at the next meeting was approved by the senate.

 

The final decision

Students and the ACE advisor were invited to speak with SGA about their request before the next meeting, and two members did.  ACE said their fall revenue, or “roll over,” is used to fund bigger acts in the spring. They use spring roll over for purchases for summer training, they said.

Last year, $60,000 rolled over for summer purchases, and $30,000 of that was allocated to different committees.

The SGA had heard enough.

The appropriations committee reversed their recommendation at the next meeting on Nov. 27, and the SGA denied their request in full.

“The reason those [CapEx requests] are denied is because appropriations and the senate has not seen fit that the organizations really need the thing that they requested,” said Lecompte.

The SGA’s decision set an important precedent for future CapEx requests- student orgs with money in the bank can’t ask for more.