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Reserves $2,256,954 Reserves $2,485,180
ASRC budget allocates over $17 million May 24, 2017 Vol. 54 No. 59
Student Organizations $1,170,928 Student Programs and Services $11,976,359
By Abby Rinaldi
C O R R E S P O N D E N T
Former Student Body Vice President Alec Waid said he hopes the allocations of the Activity and Services Recommendation Committee (ASRC) budget will improve the student experience for the next year. This year, ASRC allocated $17,889,421 according to the budget, compared to $16,871,946 in 2016. As a result of this increase, Waid said there will be less in Student Government’s (SG) reserves next year. However, he said with these increases, students can look forward to new initiatives and improvements across campus in the following year, from increased recreation facilities to parking trackers beginning to pop up around campus. “Some of the changes might be small, but in the overall student experience I think you’ll see a lot more excitement and I think we’ll reach a lot more students, more students than our events and services have reached in the past,” Waid said. The biggest increase in funding went to Campus Recreation, which received a total increase from last year of $612,402, giving them a total budget for next year of $3,555,007. Waid said this money will be used for new equipment related
Total allocated $17,889,421
According to the ASRC budget
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to the two additional facilities in The Well at USF Health and The Fit in the new housing village. “So, it’s a huge budget increase, but it’s something that we had been watching and working with Campus Rec on for the past couple of years,” Waid said. Eric Hunter, director of Campus Recreation, said the requested and received money is for materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as to secure the salaries for two new full-time positions: facility coordinator and maintenance technician. The Well Fitness Center opened during this past spring semester, and The Fit is scheduled to open in October. Both of these buildings are about 12,000 square feet with equipment such as free weights, machine weights, and cardiovascular machines. The Fit will also have an outdoor pool with locker rooms and offices for the Center for Student WellBeing. “Primarily, we’ll be focused on fitness,” Hunter said. The Campus Recreation part will be funded entirely through A&S fees and staffed by roughly six students, Hunter said. While SG did not go into making the new ASRC budget with an idea to swell funds for student organizations, according to Waid, student organizations overall received $143,742 more
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