Applications for student services fees for student groups were due 4:30 p.m. Friday and most organizations are in the clear âÄî with the exception of the Queer Student Cultural Center.
Fees committee adviser Megan Sweet said the QSCC acknowledged their application was submitted late Friday. The QSCC was allocated $43,000 for 2010-11.
Sweet said another group submitted their fees request “minutes” after the deadline. The office will determine whether or not it was a technical glitch before considering the application late.
After three groups, including the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, submitted late applications last year, the Office for Student Affairs created a task force to review the fees process. They recommended a check-in system to make sure groups were aware of the due date and time.
This year, fees-seeking groups were required to attend an informational meeting and sign a form saying they were aware of the application deadline before they were eligible to apply.
The QSCC, which did not return requests for an interview, can have their fees request reviewed by an appeals committee. The appeal must be submitted in writing. If the appeals committee determines a request requires further review, it will be heard by the Student Services Fees Committee, which reviews applications and determines how much money each group receives.
For groups who submitted late last year, getting full funding was a top priority. Both GAPSA and the Minnesota International Student Association did not meet the deadline but were awarded partial funding from Vice Provost for Student Affairs Jerry Rinehart. GAPSA received $188,000, half of the $376,000 it had requested.
MISA was awarded $33,500, roughly half of their operating budget.
Since the Somali Student Association, which handed in the third late application last year, had never applied for student services fees before, they were given a $5,000 grant.
GAPSA created a subcommittee to handle the fees request which included former chairman of the SSFC Paul Freeman and Bree Dalager, who served on the review committee this summer.
Tyler Price, GAPSAâÄôs vice president for finance, said this yearâÄôs application was submitted Wednesday.
MISA President Harsh Mankodi said their advisers made them recite the deadline in a sing-song voice as if it were a nursery rhyme.
MISA survived the year by cutting stipends for officers.
“The [executive] board definitely made a lot of sacrifices,” Vice President Apoorva Kanneganti said.
Treasurer Harshal Patel said he hoped the group would keep these money-saving practices in the future, even if they received the full amount of their request so they could have more for better events.
Abshir Mohamud, president of the Somali Student Association, hopes they will be able to receive fees money this year. Mohamud said the group was able to finance many of their projects with grants from Student Unions & Activities.
Fees requests for administrative groups, including the Minnesota Daily, were due at 4:30 p.m., Monday. Historically, Sweet said, administrative groups have always submitted their applications on time.