Roles and Responsibilities
Student organization funding at UBalt is through student agency fees, collected by the university on behalf of Student Government Association (SGA) and Student Bar Association (SBA). Fee funds are distributed amongst undergraduate and graduate organizations by the Student Government Association Finanance Committee (SGAFC). Fees collected on behalf of SBA are managed by a separate office and policy. In addition to distribution of funds, SGAFC will regularly review policy related to use of fee funds.
Student Government Association Finance Committee
Members of the SGA senate, the SGA treasurer, a financial advisor from Student Success and Support Services, and the CSEI Graduate Assistant for Financial Operations (for record-keeping purposes only) sit on this committee to distribute funds to undergraduate and graduate student organizations. More information about SGA and becoming an elected member can be found here.
Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion
The Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion (CSEI) is responsible for the general oversight of student organization financials. CSEI acts as a liaison between student organizations and other areas of the University (such as procurement and accounts payable) to ensure proper processing of financial transactions through the state’s payment system. Additionally, CSEI assists organizations in identifying and working with vendors, as necessary.
The financial partnership between CSEI and student organization leaders relies on each party meeting its responsibilities. A non-exhaustive list of responsibilities is below.
Role of CSEI:
General Policies
CSEI reserves the right to deny payment requests based on the following criteria:
Official Communication Channels
CSEI will use the ubalt.edu email addresses of the president and/or treasurer (as listed in Campus Groups) as the official communication channel regarding financials. CSEI staff members may also communicate regarding payment requests in Campus Groups by commenting on the request itself. In these instances, the requestor will be notified in Campus Groups and via email, which is the ubalt.edu email by default. Student leaders are encouraged to check their ubalt.edu email account regularly and not rely upon email forwarding to another account.
Policy for Block-funded Organizations
The Rosenberg Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion, as a steward of agency funds for block-funded organizations on campus, establishes the following funding policy for the disbursement of initial allocations to the Student Government Association and Student Events Board.
1. The Student Government Association will be provided a budget worth 22% of the overall student agency fee budget or $55,000, whichever of the two is greater.
2. The Student Events Board will be provided a budget worth 22% of the overall student agency fee budget or $50,000, whichever of the two is greater.
3. If SGA, and SEB are funded based on their minimum percentages, SGA Admin will be provided a budget worth 17% of the overall student agency fee budget. If SGA and SEB are funded based on their minimum values, SGA Admin will be provided a budget minimum of $35,000 after SGA and SEB have been funded.
4. The remaining funds will be allocated to the SGA Finance Committee for disbursement to student organizations.
5. Any funds from the student agency fee budget that remain unallocated at the end of the block funding allocation process will be automatically granted to the SGA Finance Committee for supplemental funding to student organizations.
Questions about this policy may be addressed to the Director of Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion. These levels may be revised prior to July 1 for the following academic year, with appropriate and timely notification to those groups who are impacted