The Eligibility Criteria Review Committee met Tuesday to continue giving input on the General Student Services Fund Group’s application requirements.
To receive eligibility and funding from GSSF many requirements need to be fulfilled. GSSF is a fund that supplies money to student organizations that offer direct services to students. Fifteen GSSF student organizations received $1,011,800.14 total in the 2014 fiscal year.
The ECRC plans to continue discussing the GSSF guidelines to ensure the student organizations applying for funding receive fair consideration. The ultimate goal of the committee is to create new GSSF parameters.
One guideline the ECRC discussed was the requirement that organizations who have received previous funding need to prove their allocated funds were used in a fiscally responsible manner to renew eligibility.
Student Services Finance Committee members rely solely on the representatives’ yearly budget reports, and one of the concerns was organizations might not use their budgets efficiently. One suggestion included sending SSFC members to some of the programs sponsored by GSSF-supported organizations to assess the organization’s use of the money in their budgets.
Another recommendation by SSFC Chair David Vines was to require groups who did not use a certain baseline percentage of their budget to present to the representatives, so they could have an opportunity to explain why the money was not used. SSFC members could then determine whether the circumstances did not allow them to use their allotted budget, Vines said.
Committee members determined they will most likely not vote on any guideline changes this semester, but they are hoping to make significant revisions in the spring.
