The SGA executive board is trying to give back as much of the student’s money as they possibly can via the Blazer Allocation Fund.

The fund, established 2017, was created to help and support student organizations. Each organization can get up to $500 per semester. But student orgs are not the only ones that can benefit.

Students can request money for individual purposes such as studying abroad or traveling to a conference. The amount of money distributed is different depending on what the request is.

However, most students aren’t aware that there is an SGA account dedicated to supporting campus events.

Comptroller Krupesh Patel’s, whose main job is overseeing the fund, said his main goal is to spread the word about it to let students know it exists.

“A lot of students are not aware that part of their fees that they pay to come to VSU go into the SGA account; it’s here for the students,” Patel said.

SGA has already spoke about the fund at their biweekly meetings, but Patel plans to spread the word more through social media and events.

“When we have tabling and energizer booths we will inform students about the Blazer Allocation Fund,” Patel said, “I think that it will be a very effective way to reach out to the students while also hearing their concerns.”

Although most students don’t know about the fund, some organizations have used it.

Senior student and member of the NAACP, Clinesha Sims, said that The NAACP has used the fund recently.

“We actually used the Allocation Fund for our recent event: Good Friday,” Sims said, “It helped out a lot, and we were able to get more things for the event like a DJ.”

However, though some students know about the fund, some choose not to use it.

Morgan Frambro, VSU senior and president of Collegiate Women said she knows the fund exist but thought it would be wasteful to use on small events that her org hosts.

“I’m not sure why we hadn’t used the fund in the previous years, but I do know this year we have only had small events and did not want to waste the fund.” she said.

But what most students don’t know is that the funds account is based off its usage, therefore if it does not get fully distributed less will be put into the account next year.

The Blazer Allocations budget decreased from last year, but Jacob Bell is already confident that it’s going to increase next year.

“As a team, we’re continuously adjusting how we handle the Blazer Allocations Funds,” he said. “The usage numbers have already gone up substantially already over last year.”

Frambro said though she has never used the fund, it is very beneficial to orgs around campus.

“I do feel as though the allocation fund is helpful especially for orgs that are trying to get campus involvement higher,” Frambro said. “Money is the set back from having large and successful events.”

To request money out of the Allocation Fund, apply on BlazerLink or visit valdosta.edu/SGA for more information.

Written by Lenah Allen, Staff Writer.

Click here to apply for the Blazer Allocation Fund

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