Spending money is not a problem for most college students. But for the Campus Activities Board, the ASCC committee responsible for planning student social activities, spending money has been hard this semester.
“We are trying to figure out ways to spend the money because we can’t reuse the money next year,” Luna Busch, treasurer for ASCC, said during a Zoom interview discussing the ASCC budget for social activities.
Busch said that all current budgets for ASCC were approved in the prior school year, meaning this year’s budget of $5,757 for social activities was approved last year.
The social activities budget is part of the ASCC general budget that is mostly funded by the student services fee, a fee due when registering for fall or spring courses.
During a regular on-campus school year, spending an amount like this would not be an issue for the committee.
Busch said that the budget would cover the costs of events on campus, which might include food and prizes for attendees and guests to speak at these events.
However, this year’s distance learning format has been a challenge for the Campus Activities Board.
“Normally we usually spend the total amount we are given, but it’s just been hard because we keep trying to figure out what to use it on,” Busch said, laughing in frustration at the situation. “It’s just been hard.”
The urgency to spend the budget lies on the basis that any budget amount that is left over at the end of the school year does not get rolled over into the next year’s spending budget.
Busch said that any money that is not used goes into reserves and any money in the reserves cannot be touched unless there is a vote to access the money.
“So pretty much we’re just trying to use it while we can before it goes into our reserves,” Busch said.
So far, the committee is using the money for gift cards they give away during online social events.
This semester, there have been two social events: the Friendship Event that occurred on March 11 and, the most recent event, Major Meet and Greet that occurred on April 22.
The Friendship Event was created as a response to students who expressed their want of friendship and connectivity during this time of distance learning.
Busch said that Dana Hester, dean of social and behavioral sciences, with whom Busch works with, had asked that a friendship event be created after noticing that students were struggling to make friends.
Leah Hartwell, the ASCC commissioner of activities, said in a Zoom interview that she is also aware of the interest of students wanting to make friends.
“Yes, we’ve definitely had students bring that up in our meetings before saying, you know, ‘I’ve noticed that I’m not alone in wanting to find friends at Citrus,’” Hartwell said.
When planning the first Friendship Event, Hartwell didn’t know how many attendees to expect but was pleasantly surprised at the amount who showed up.
She also said that the second Friendship Event was planned at the request of those students who had attended the first event.
The second Friendship Event is scheduled at 2:30 – 4 p.m. on Thursday. Check the CitrusMobile app or follow the Citrus Student Life account on Instagram, @citrusstudentlife, for more information on this event.
