SGA allocates $371,663 for FY27

Izabela Gage / THE GATEPOST

By Bella Grimaldi News Editor

By Avery Slavin Interim Asst. News Editor SGA allocated $371,663 to student organizations for Fiscal Year 2027 at their Feb. 10 “Big Budget” meeting. The starting fund for FY27 before allocation was $419,480, and was dispersed across the 33 clubs that receive funding from the Student Activities Trust Fund (SATF). The Group 1 organizations present a yearly budget in order to receive funding at the “Big Budget” meeting. These organizations are FSAB, The Gatepost, WDJM, and SGA. Group 2 through Group 5 do not present a budget proposal and every organization within their funding group receives an equal amount of funds. Group 6 student organizations are not funded. At the end of the meeting, $47,817 remained unallocated for FY27. FSAB The Framingham State Activities Board budget proposal for FY27 was presented by President Kira James, Treasurer Aubrianna Oullette, and Social Media Coordinator Aleks Rocha. They requested a budget of $130,200, an $8,800 increase from FY26. The first category presented was their on-campus events, for which they said they would like to increase their BINGO budget line to $15,000 from $8,000 to accommodate Drag BINGO, a “really big event” hosted with SGA, according to James. She said the club spent about $2,500 more on Casino Night this year than they did last year, and had to reallocate from other areas to accommodate. James said they adjusted a few more budget lines for on-campus events such as adding a line for Fall Fest, asking for less for Homecoming, and reallocating unused money to Sandbox. “Sandbox is one of our biggest events on campus. We shut down State Street, so that costs money for Framingham Police. A lot of students are asking for a lot more, and we want to give to the students because it’s such a campus-wide event,” said James. In terms of off-campus events, FSAB spent over $24,000 for their overnight trip to New York City to cover hotel and bus costs, reallocating some money from the Amusement Park budget line. For their marketing category, they didn’t request any budget increase for office supplies, but requested $500 more for event promotions. After opening the floor to questions, SGA President César Matos asked if FSAB had been able to host Sandbox in years prior without the $2,000 allocation. James responded by saying that they have been "functioning" by pulling from other budget lines. Matos then asked whether there have been “instances in the past where [they] simply do not have enough funds to handle Sandbox.” James said they’ve had a lot of different ideas, but they were not able to be funded. She added they are looking to have different types of merchandise and more tables with activities this year. James said this year, from reallocating from other budget lines, they have a “bit more funds to do what [they] want.” However, they are asking for more so they can continue funding students’ proposals in the future. The motion to approve FSAB’s requested budget for $130,200 passed unanimously. The Gatepost The Gatepost’s FY27 budget proposal was presented by Editor-in-Chief Sophia Oppedisano and Associate Editors Adrien Gobin and Dylan Pichnarcik. This year, the requested budget for The Gatepost is $46,851. This is a $13,981, or a 34.36% increase, from the FY26 allocation. The club’s proposed increases were in the categories of Newspaper Administration and Promotional Items & Recruitment Events in their requested budget. The request for the Newspaper Administration line item this year is $26,528, which is a $7,528, or 39.62% increase, due to the tariffed cost of printing materials. Of the requested funds for this line item, $24,500 will be used to cover the cost of paper, $5,500 more than the last fiscal year. The Gatepost will also be printing double the amount of the usual press run for the 95th anniversary edition of the paper next year. Two thousand twenty-eight dollars of this line item will be used to cover the one-time cost of printing the additional papers. The Licensing, Memberships & Awards and Office Supplies & Equipment categories both showed a decreased allocation request for FY27. The budget proposal for the Licensing, Memberships & Awards category was $2,895. This is $347 less than what was allocated for FY26. Oppedisano said this decrease is due to the removal of unused subscriptions and moving The Gatepost’s ePaper to a new online publication platform. The budget request for the Office Supplies & Equipment line item was $3,200. This is $200 less than what was allocated for the 2026 fiscal year. According to Oppedisano, this decrease is because The Gatepost’s photocopier is broken and will no longer be in use. The Printing and Photocopying charges to The Gatepost Account line item showed a decrease from $600 to $300 for FY27. The Cameras and Computers line item was increased from $400 in FY26. The total requested for FY27 in this line item is $2,400. Oppedisano said this increase is for the replacement of The Gatepost’s older computers so they can run the most recent version of Adobe InDesign. A motion to approve The Gatepost’s FY27 requested budget passed 15-0-1. WDJM President Alexis Schlesinger and Treasurer Antonio Machado presented WDJM’s budget request for FY27. They requested $18,812, a $3,050 increase from FY26. For station events, they requested $6,000, a $3,000 increase. Schlesinger said that money would be put toward “live music events in an attempt to get more students involved with [the] club.” They also plan on hosting more events throughout the year, such as open mics and karaoke, for which they’d like to provide food. This has its own budget line of $300. For promotional items, they asked for $800, a $500 increase from FY26, to go toward T-shirts for RamFest. WDJM was able to remove a $350 budget line for Station Administration, as they do not require a station inspection during FY27. Schlesinger said over the past two years, WDJM’s equipment has gone through some “major updates” as well as maintenance. The antenna on the roof cost $12,000, according to Schlesinger, and the club had to take money from two separate years of their budget to pay the cost in its entirety. The tower maintenance was $6,000. Schlesinger was asked if, since WDJM appears to still have a “large portion of the budget on hand,” they’d be able to offset any of the costs for next year using the money they have left from this year. Schlesinger said it’s impossible to tell how much they will have to spend on potential maintenance, as something could break within the last few weeks of the year that they’d need to repair. Machado said there are currently some issues that they are experiencing, and the costs will not be known until the repairs are finished. Matos said the clubs in Groups 1 and 2 are able to ask for more money in the spring semester if they need. “There is always the potential to have Group 1 come to [Finance Committee] in case of any expenditures which may be superseding what you may have in your budget,” Matos said. After a question about lowering the budget, Schlesinger said they cannot afford to just “come get money when [they] need it” because if the equipment isn't functioning for a certain amount of time, they could be fined well over the entire WDJM budget. Machado said the funds are “time sensitive” and that the club could face major legal issues if something affects their broadcasting. If they get fined, WDJM “ceases to exist.” A motion to approve WDJM’s total budget request of $18,812 was passed unanimously. SGA SATF Treasurer Khoa Bùi presented SGA’s proposed budget for a total of $58,900. This is a $8,825 increase from the FY26 allocation. SGA’s proposed FY27 budget showed an increase in the General, Operations, and Training categories. The General section of the SGA proposed budget reflected a $7,700 increase, for a total of $20,200. In this category, the Election Materials, SGA Outreach Programs, Co-Sponsored Events, and SGA Socials line items showed an increase. Election Materials had a $700 increase for a total of $1,000. The SGA Outreach Programs had a $3,000 increase for a total of $5,000. The Co-Sponsored Events line item showed a request for $7,000, which is a $4,000 increase from last fiscal year. The line item for SGA Socials stated a request for $1,500. According to the proposed budget, this is a new line item added for social activities. In the Operations category, there is a $375 increase for the RamLink line item. The total for this line item is $8,500. The SGA Training Budget section stated a total request of $7,750. This is a 138% increase from last year's allocation for this category. The increase is a result of the addition of the American Student Government Association Conference line item that shows a request for $4,500. According to the budget proposal, these funds would allow “two members and two staff to attend.” The SGA Banquet category of the budget showed a decrease from $7,000 to $3,500. According to Bùi, this is due to the banquet being moved from an off-campus to on-campus location. Senator Nathan Piette asked what the thought process was behind moving the banquet to an on-campus event. Matos said, “EXP noted that there was a significant decrease in the number of students that went to last year’s banquet, and one of the friction points was the fact that it was off-campus.” SGA then voted on the approval of the proposed FY27 budget, which passed unanimously. Allocation Groups Following the allocation of $254,763 to the budgets of the Group 1 student organizations, SGA then reviewed the funding group reassignments of 15 student organizations and the allocation adjustments to Groups 2-5. Outside of the 15 student organizations that were reassigned, History Club and M.I.S.S. were deactivated. Ski and Snowboard Club was moved from Group 3 to Group 6. According to Matos, this is because the club is not “abiding by officer compliance, meaning that they either don’t have a president or a treasurer, so they’re effectively not really functioning.” The vote to move the Ski and Snowboard club to Group 6 passed unanimously. SGA then reviewed the reassignment of student organizations to Group 5. B2B, Education Club, Green Initiative, and Wildlife Club were moved down to Group 5 from higher allocation levels. The Pokémon Club, Political Science Club, Volunteers of FSU, and Criminology Club were moved up to Group 5 from Group 6. The motion to reassign these clubs passed 8-0-5. Six clubs were proposed to be reassigned to Group 4. The Onyx was the only organization to be moved down to this group. ASL Club, Aspiring Health Professionals, Dungeons & Dragons Club, LUNA, and Psychology Club were moved up to Group 4. These reassignments passed 13-0-1. Art Club and Model U.N. were the only student organizations moved to Group 3. The vote to assign these clubs passed 11-0-2. After approving the reassignments of student organizations to new allocation groups, SGA reviewed the readjustment of the allocations to each group. Group 2’s allocation was raised so each club's funds would be raised from $13,500 to $14,500. The vote on this adjustment passed unanimously. The allocated funds to each club in Group 3 was lowered from $6,000 to $5,000. This passed unanimously. The allocated funds to each club in Group 4 was adjusted from $1,700 to $1,200. The motion to approve this proposal passed unanimously. The allocated funds for Group 5 stayed at $400 for each club. The overall funds for the allocation group was adjusted to $3,600. This passed unanimously. [ Editor’s Note: Sophia Oppedisano is the Editor-in-Chief, Adrien Gobin and Dylan Pichnarcik are Associate Editors, Antonio Machado is the Multimedia Editor, Alexis Schlesinger is the Photos & Design Editor, and Nathan Piette is a Staff Writer for The Gatepost. ]