Student organizations scramble as spring semester funding runs out

On Feb. 4, 2025, the Student Association (SA) sent an email to Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), stating that all funds were allocated for the spring 2025 semester.  

SA’s comptroller, Alexis Leach, shared the organization’s final decision in the email, saying that “the Finance Board had $50,000 available for the spring semester, following the allocation of $290,694.15 during the Advanced Spring Semester process.”

The decision was met with backlash, negatively impacting several RSOs who did not receive as much funding as they had in the past.

According to Zipped Magazine’s current Editor-in-Chief, Kellen Cosgrave, his publication was amongst the RSOs that received no funding during this year’s allocation, despite receiving money in the past. 

“I feel like this whole thing has made me and a lot of other people question if being an official student organization is worth it,” Cosgrave said. “Because [of] an instance like this semester, where we’re solely responsible for sourcing our own funding.” 

Each Syracuse University student pays a $211 student activity fee every semester. This fee is then used for the allocation, where organizations get a set budget that will be used to cover costs, such as for special events. 

“The problem is that during COVID, there was nothing happening, so all of this money was left, just intact,” said German Nolivos, SA’s current President. “So the past three, four Presidents and Comptrollers have used that money and have allowed organizations to do events with no problem, but coming back now to this year — the thing that actually got affected is the amount of initiative that is getting put into place.”

 According to Nolivos, although over $200,000 of requests were submitted this semester, only $31,000 was allocated between 27 RSOs.  

University Girl is another student-run magazine impacted by the SA’s funding distribution. This semester, senior Julia Paperny and junior Bella Tabak are the Co-Editors-in-Chief of the magazine. 

“We were approved for around $2,000 for 250 copies of the magazine, and in the past, we’ve been approved for a lot more, for around 500 to 700 copies,” Tabak said. “So it was a little jarring seeing that we were going to have such a low amount to print because so much work goes into that magazine and so many people are working on it.” 

Paperny has even offered to host the magazine’s spring semester launch party at her college apartment. 

“At the end of the day, we’re just 20-year-olds, we’re young,” Paperny said. “We’re just trying to enjoy [being involved in our organizations], and it seems that sometimes that takes a toll on something that you’re trying to do, that you’re just passionate about.”

Jerk Magazine is another established RSO that usually produces two print issues every semester. Senior magazine, news, and digital journalism major Julia Reedy, the magazine’s executive editor, said that SA has agreed only to fund Jerk’s March issue this semester. 

“We as students put a lot of thought and plan [into our clubs and organizations]… especially the student-run publications,” Reedy said. “We put a lot of effort into it, and it would be nice to receive that funding.”

Reedy said that because the magazine did not receive enough funding for two print issues, the Jerk team took the matter into their own hands and started a GoFundMe to raise money for the May issue. 

“We raised enough money to fund this issue and our next issue, which is so awesome, and we’re able to also print more issues,” Reedy said. “Last semester, we had to cut down a lot because our funding was a little cut. I think we’re able to print 350 issues for our May issue, and then also for next year, in the fall, when the next person takes over, which is great.” 

As of March 5, the magazine’s GoFundMe has gathered 59 donations and has exceeded its goal of $1,125 by reaching $2,750 in donations. 

When Jerk was founded in 2003, it was initially supposed to be an independent magazine that the university did not fund. This funding drive gives hope to returning to that mission.

“I think from this GoFundMe, it shows that Jerk can be independent, which is just really cool to see that come into fruition,” Reedy said. 

Senior broadcast and digital journalism major Reese Gaudelli is a Co-Producer for First Year Players (FYP), a student-run campus theatre organization. FYP asks for funding through the advanced semester allocation process, where they apply in the fall semester to receive money in the spring. 

“We’re a tier three organization, which means we’re eligible to receive up to $40,000, so we budget out $40,000 for our spring musical every year, and pretty much every year we’ve received that funding,” Gaudelli said. “This year, we did face some challenges with the Student Association, where our budget initially got completely denied, which was very concerning for us.”

Gaudelli said that after advocating on behalf of FYP to receive more funding, they were able to appeal the initial decision. However, they still received about $10,000 less than usual.  

For the 2025-2026 school year, SA stated that new fiscal code changes would be enforced to ensure RSOs receive the funding they need to operate. For instance, SA will reinforce the “first come, first serve” policy. 

“When we’re close to running out of funds, the Finance Board will work to approve as many events as possible, regardless of order,” Nolivos said 

With these changes and the experience of this semester, RSOs and SA hope that these funding issues are left in the past. 

“We all are students, and we’re all just trying to learn and do our best,” Gaudelli said. “I think that’s an important thing to keep in mind. People have a right to be angry, but it’s also important to remember that we’re all just kids here, trying to do our best.”