In his final weeks as Student Government Association President, David Sommers has $15,000 left in the SGA budget.

The conservative president has everyone wondering where this money will go now that the year is over.

“The money can roll over to next year’s budget, but it’s not mandatory,” Sommers said. “Last year we didn’t have any funds that rolled over, and we started with $100,000 for student groups.”

Sommers explained that each year, the current SGA administration, the upcoming SGA administration, Dean Evelyn Campbell and the business office get together to allocate funds for next year.

The group decides how much money to allocate before the school year and how much money to keep for contingencies throughout the school year.

“We set a precedent last year that we did not award any nonprofits with money,” Sommers said. “I really wanted to encourage campus outreach and campus engagement.”

Sommers wanted these groups to fundraise and promote their organizations within the school year.

“SAGA came to us, and we did not award them their contingency,” states Sommers. “The senate did not feel like they had actively attempted to gain those funds themselves. We wanted to see them reach out to the campus.”

According to Sommers, SAGA did reach out to the campus and was able to fundraise. After their fundraising efforts, they were able to come back and receive some of the contingency they had asked for before.

“I think that our budget policy paid off in the end,” Sommers said.

As to where the leftover money will go, Sam Schlouch, the director of public relations and arts promotions, said that the money generally does not roll over into the next school year.

“When operating budget money, such as the SGA budget, is not spent by the end of the fiscal year, that money is generally used to balance the other accounts in that operating area that have exceeded their budgets, rather than rolling over to the next fiscal year,” Schlouch said.

Sommers hopes that the Bentley/Funke administration continues to support and help the groups that need it.

“I think that they do realize that we were a lot more conservative with the budget, and I suspect that they would lean more conservative as well,” Sommers said. “I just hope that they continue to encourage campus engagement and campus outreach.”