To increase awareness and accessibility to student groups, student organizations are now able to access grants in one place.

The Coca-Cola grants, which previously were accessed in Morrill Hall in the Office of Student Affairs, are now being managed in the Student Activities Office. The grants help fund events and programs on campus.

Margaret Cahill, Student Activities Office coordinator, said the grants primarily were moved to raise more awareness about the availability of the grants.

More groups have applied now that all the student group grants are available in one location, and there is more consistency, Cahill said.

“For a lot of student organizations, especially those that are not eligible to receive student service fees, this is a fantastic opportunity for them to do events and different programs,” Cahill said.

There are now five grants available for application in the Student Activities Office in Coffman Union.

The grants provided by Coca-Cola are the Academic Initiative, the Community Initiative and the Campus Life Initiative.

The amount of money that can be given out each year between the three grants is $100,000.

The awarded maximum per application is $1,000. During an academic year, the maximum award is $2,000.

Amelious Whyte, Office of Student Affairs director, said the transition is helpful in making the grants more accessible for application.

Previously, anyone applying for a grant would have to go online, print the application and bring it to either the Student Activities Office or the Office of Student Affairs, he said. This year, a student can submit the request online.

“It’s a good opportunity for students to get all of their financing needs met in one place,” he said.

The TRIO Student Advisory Board and the General College Student Board are two boards on campus that received money from the Coca-Cola Campus Life grants this year.

Fran Stark, adviser to the TRIO Board, said the group was able to hold a homecoming breakfast and a salsa recipe contest because of the grants.

But not all activities and organizations are eligible for the grant.

Finance and non-profit management junior Brian Peterson said an event soon to be hosted by Students Today Leaders Forever was not eligible for a Coca-Cola grant because it is a fundraising event.

Tony Diggs, director of Student Activities said, “I think we (SAO) are doing a much better job because we have a working relationship with our student groups, and we have different mechanisms to get the word out to the student groups.

“Hopefully (the groups) are writing those grants,” he said.