Students involved in campus organizations can now use Student Government money to fund personal travel. Student Body President Mark Lombardi-Nelson signed Bill F13-001 into law last week after SG senators at the Sept. 4 general assembly voted unanimously in its favor.
The bill, written by Sen. Jozef Gherman, will allow students to partner with USF St. Petersburg clubs and organizations to fund their travel. There are currently about 70 student organizations registered on Orgsync and each is eligible to receive up to $10,000 a year for travel. Funding for individuals will come out of this allotment.
Students are not allowed to travel to network at a career fair, but there are no other explicit restrictions in place. Funding is based on Senate’s discretion, which must follow policies enforced by the university, state and federal government. Gherman said students must be able to justify their travel on the Senate’s floor.
“You obviously won’t be able to justify going to a beach in Hawaii,” Gherman said, explaining the idea of the bill is that an individual’s travel will be relevant to the club or organization sponsoring them.
According to Gherman, the university’s definition of travel is broad. The bill will allow students to fund all expenses incurred by travel, including housing and transportation.
SG acquires money for their budget through the activity and services fees students pay with tuition. Clubs and organizations are funded through this fee.
Students wishing to travel must find the Grant Request Form on SG’s Orgsync page. The form must be filled out by the sponsoring organization and the student wishing to travel. There is a travel request tab on the form, where the organization is asked to delineate requested funds for transportation, lodging, registration and whatever else is needed. The organization must email completed form to Jozef Gherman at jozef@mail.usf.edu.
Gherman encourages individuals to submit the form well in advance of their expected departure date. At minimum, travel must be approved 21 academic days before the proposed event.
Travel requests are reviewed by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which convenes at 6 p.m. every Monday and 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday. If travel is under $1,000, the committee can approve it without further review. If it is over $1,000, the committee sends it on to SG general assembly, which meets every Wednesday at 3 p.m.
