College Council announced the implementation of a new online funding system to replace the previously paper-based system Monday.
As the governing body of the College, the council appropriates funds from the College to student groups, fraternal organizations and special status organizations for special events and programs.
To receive funding, students must fill out an application which ensures organizations and individuals are requesting funds to further the goals of College Council. Some of the most common funding programs include CIOs seeking funding for an event, professors seeking funding for a class event and students seeking funding for individual research.
Henry Reynolds, a third-year College student and president of College Council, said the new system had been a long time coming.
“I wanted to switch when I was the treasurer last year and was hoping it would be done months ago but things took longer than expected,” Reynolds said.
Prior to the new system, organizations and individuals had to submit a paper pre-approval form with a rough budget and event description, as well as the reasoning behind how the event would benefit the College specifically. With the help of Information Technology Services, College Council was able to put most of the questions online.
College Council is given $4 from student activities fees from every student in the College for their budget, Reynolds said, and it must decide where to allocate funds based on a council vote after reviewing applications.
However, restrictions on spending are first put in place by the Board of Visitors, Reynolds said. Then, additional restrictions are put in place by the council concerning the use of the funds. For example, College Council will not fund money prizes, philanthropic activities or contributions, the purchase of alcoholic beverages or political activities.
College Council works on a mandatory reimbursement basis, a University policy which makes funding organizations and individuals more difficult but serves to prevent liability issues, Reynolds said.
The new online system will make this process quicker, because many of the delays with the paper system were due to signatures, Reynolds said. Even after the council voted to approve an event, the treasurer, followed by the advisory dean and then the fiscal administrator, needed to sign off on the funding.
“In sequence, this could take a long time,” Reynolds said. “The online system allows for easier signing, keeps all the paperwork and itemized receipts together and should expedite the process.”
With the paper system in use, reimbursements and events that were approved were then placed somewhere in a filing cabinet in Monroe Hall or lost, Conor Boyle, third-year College student and College Council funding chair, said.
“We really had no way to see what College Council had funded in the past,” Boyle said.
The new online system will help College Council members look at what events are being held and analyze where their funding is going, Boyle said.
“We hope by using this system College Council members in 2020 we’ll be able to look back at 2016 and see exactly what events were funded,” Boyle said.
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