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By Devin Hardy / Staff Writer
By Devin Hardy / Staff Writer
As the 2012-2013 academic year underway at Riverside City College, the Associated Students of RCC is working with a budget of $435,213.
However this budget is consistent with last years budget.
Doug Figueroa, president of Associated Students of RCC, said the budget has seen some major cuts and some great improvements.
The ASRCC is responsible for funding on campus athletics, district organizations, executive offices and campus clubs. This results in spreading the budget across four different departments.
The athletics department received $213,200, almost half of the budget. This is an increase of $7,375 from the following year’s total of $205,825.
The district organizations are set to receive $104,454. This also is an increase of $11,134 from last year’s budget.
However the executive branch has decreased their budget $14,650 allowing extra funds to be diverted to the school clubs and district organizations. The campus clubs will be seeing an increase in their funding this school year raising their budget from $30,375 to $46,729.
Also inside each of these different programs and organizations there have been individual cuts to allow for a better distribution of funds.
“We want to pump more money into the arts and into the theater to show that athletics are not the only avenue for students to become engaged,” Figueroa said.
To receive funding, groups must submit a written proposal to the Associated Students of RCC budget committee. They are then awarded funding based on club size, how often they meet, how many events they hold throughout the year and how many people attended their events.
The funding for campus groups and organizations is often not enough to cover all of their expenses.
Samantha Denney a student and member of RCC’s Dance Squad said the money the team receives is not enough.
“The dance budget helps but we still have to do lots of fundraising for uniforms and to travel to larger events,” she said.
The Associated Students of RCC budget committee consists of 10 different student body members whom were either elected or appointed to the three branches: judicial, legislative and executive. This 10 members committee has been chosen to represent the whole student body at the RCC.
After each club and organization on campus has submitted their budget request to ASRCC, the treasurer then submits the committee’s final budget decisions to the ASRCC Senate. The Senate will then need a two-thirds majority vote for the budget to be passed. The budget is then submitted to the ASRCC president for approval before it can be sent to the college president for final approval.
When the ASRCC approved to increase the district organizations budget, they were helping to put money directly into some really under-funded programs. This in turn has helped move the budget toward a more balanced representation of the student body.
“I think it is super important to give more funding to these smaller organizations so they can attempt to attract more members by having more of a visible presence on campus,” said Del Dunston, a student at RCC.
