In the previous Student Government Association financial bylaws, travel for conferences and other off-campus events covered the cost of hotels, meals and mileage for personal vehicles. However, those expenses are no longer covered by SGA. 

SGA Executive President Taylor Cote said as Elon students pay $146 in student activity fees per semester, it is unnecessary for this money to cover the expense of other students to travel.

“We just feel like it's not like an equitable way to use student activity fees,” Cote said.

SGA will still cover the cost of registration fees, flights and mileage for university vehicles. As for covering those non-included fees, such as hotels, Cote said SGA is looking to help organizations raise their own funding. 

“We've been talking about doing fundraising workshops,” Cote said. 

According to Cote each year SGA receives an $800,000 budget. If not all this money is used, it gets reallocated back into Vice President of Student Life Jon Dooley’s budget.

Elon's Student Government Association reviews and updates its bylaws annually, but this year, significant changes are expected in its finance bylaws. In addition to SGA no longer covering certain travel expenses they are moving away from funding requests on a rolling basis. Starting June 1, SGA will be implementing a new funding model which will follow a quarterly request routine. 

Cote said this new quarterly schedule is a huge transition for organizations requesting funding. She said this change will help those on SGA going through budget requests — in order to eliminate extra work and stress for SGA members who regularly go through financial requests. 

“It just makes it more streamlined,” Cote said. “It makes it less of a full time job for these students who are juggling all the other things that they need to do.”

According to SGA’s Finances website the first funding requests for quarter one, June 1 to Oct. 31, will be due April 11.

As for organizations that have last minute requests, Cote said there is an emergency fund that can be used loosely. 

Before the fruition of fundraising workshops, SGA will be hosting information sessions for organizations interested in learning more about the updated financial bylaws. Students can also schedule a one-on-one consultation with Vice President of Finance Clare Rudolph.

“We're here to help students,” Cote said. “We're here to fund student activities.”

Previously, SGA’s funding bylaws stated that performance group funding was up to the discretion of the finance board. This was due to performance groups charging attendees for tickets. In their new bylaws, it makes no mention of funding regarding performance groups separately.

“Our student activity fees are going to something that a lot of people are able to experience,” Cote said.