Earlier this year, Rowan’s Student Government Association (SGA) saw a 3% decrease in its budget. This cut was reflected in a general budget decrease for campus activities at Rowan for the 2025 fiscal year, with campus clubs and organizations now awaiting their budget changes as the new year approaches.

SGA introduced the new “Club Budget Allocation System” last year. This system takes into account the number of active members, years active, and approved ProfLink events to determine points or credits. 

More factors, though less influential, are a club’s average event attendance, number of accountability points, total fundraised, and awards earned. Once these are estimated, and points then totaled, the tier and allocation amount for a club is identified. Typically, greater numbers for each factor result in more credits, and consequently, greater budget contributions.

This system, in part, corresponds to the budget decreases for the 2025 fiscal year, as measurements for credits were conducted over the course of the 2023-2024 school year. However, many cuts came from the necessity to reallocate funds to other student services.

SGA’s Chief Financial Officer, Molly Fitzpatrick, has proposed a resolution to help amend this funding issue. Introduced earlier this semester, the proposal increases the undergraduate SGA fee from $91.50 to $100.00 per semester, to combat the lack of rollover.

“Ever since Covid, SGA is almost bound to face a decrease in their budget because a lot of the SGA internal accounts…rely on rollover,” said Fitzpatrick. “The rollover is starting to go down.”

In recent years, COVID-19 allowed for a “rollover” for clubs at Rowan, as funds that were not able to be used during the pandemic could be used in the proceeding years. As time has gone on, this rollover has decreased, factoring into many clubs’ decrease in funds as well.

With rollover and reallocations being taken into consideration for the SGA, Fitzpatrick’s proposal hopes to, with a slight increase in the SGA fee, improve campus activities’ budgets, and offset budget decreases. 

The proposal will be voted on by the Board of Trustees this December. In addition to this proposal, Dr. Drew Tinnin, the Associate Vice President of Student Life at Rowan University, has acknowledged an increase in enrollment this fall.

“We had budgeted $685,691 in fee revenue for the fall and received $768,975.07 due to increased enrollment. We have budgeted to receive $641,303 in the spring,” said Tinnin.

Rowan received a greater enrollment this fall than initially anticipated, leaving an estimated $80,000 increase in fee revenue. Although spring enrollment must be finalized before any allocations or actions can be taken with these additional funds, the Student Government Association looks forward to the possibility of a greater budget for club special projects, overnight travel, and scholarship accounts.

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