Sitting on Both Sides of the Fence

November 6, 2009, at 10:59 am      Andrew Huynh '11, SBC

It’s an interesting perspective to sit on both ends of the financial process. Being both a member of the SBC and an office assistant in the WSA Office, I frequently have the pleasure of helping student group leaders transition from the “requesting” phase to the “getting” phase. Based upon this, I want to share several thoughts from both perspectives that could make the financial process less daunting and frustrating.

In the SBC, our charge is to maximize our finite budget to help the student groups flourish on campus. When students meet with us, we do our best to meet their groups’ needs but are often faced with the challenge of trying to remain within our budget. This often forces us to ask hard questions, like asking leaders to prioritize their itemized lists of supplies, and so on. Often times, we find that leaders are obliging and accepting of this inevitable decision – a decision that no member of the SBC relishes or enjoys. Finally, we’ll approve the request, and it moves on to your SBC SmartKey account.

The office staff is there to help you get your money. Whether it is past income from your Income SmartKey account or new funds granted through the SBC, we want to make the paperwork and the fairly bureaucratic process as easy as possible for you. Keep in mind, the office staff and the SBC are separate entities, but the goal is the same: helping the student groups with the financial side so that you can focus your energy on your extracurriculars. I’ve seen some students get frustrated with the leaps and bounds sometimes needed to get their money, and with that I can empathize. However, what the students see is the tip of the iceberg, although we try our best to minimize the hassle on your part.

So what should student leaders do? On both sides of the fence, just be candid. If you have questions, ask questions. If you’re confused with the process, both the SBC and the office staff are there to guide you through. There is specific information required from higher-ups and we’ll do our best to show you what you need. But most of all: don’t wait. A not-so-small minority of groups tend to wait for months or even until the end of the school year before submitting receipts for reimbursement. Meanwhile, waiting can flood the WSA Office with paperwork, making it harder to resolve any potential problems, and it forces the SBC to need to audit the groups’ accounts to make sure money is allocated fairly. Keeping all of that in mind, the process should flow smoothly, and at least speaking for myself, I’m more than happy to help. Any questions, please feel free to contact the SBC at sbc@lyris.wesleyan.edu, the WSA Office at wsaoffice@wesleyan.edu, or me, Andrew Huynh, at ahuynh@wesleyan.edu.