How Your Fees are Spent

Services & Activities Fees Funding Process

Introduction

The Annual Service and Activities Funding Process

The Service and Activities (S&A) Fee Application process allows the Bellevue College community the opportunity to apply for funding of extracurricular and co-curricular campus experiences. The S&A funding process takes place each year in Winter/Spring Quarter to recommend allocations for the following fiscal year. Once the timeline for the 2022-23 fiscal year has been established, emails will go out to the BC community and information will be published on this webpage with details and deadline for the 2022-23 process, application information and training.

ASG: Funding Opportunities During the Academic Year

Members of the BC community who provide co-curricular and extracurricular experiences for BC students may request S&A funds for one-off events or initiatives during the academic year by applying to the Associated Student Government Board of Directors (ASG BOD). Funds from ASG are S&A funds allocated to the ASG Board of Directors by the S&A Committee in order to provide funding opportunities when the S&A Committee is not convened. The ASG BOD uses the same guidelines as the S&A Committee in considering requests. For more information, please review the ASG Financial Code 2021. ASG funding request forms can be found on the ASG website. For more information, contact ASG Lead Advisor, Amy McCrory, amy.mccrory@bellevuecollege.edu.

Who is Eligible to Apply for S&A funding?

ASG has expanded who can apply for S&A funding. Any BC student organization or BC office or staff can seek funds for co-curricular and extracurricular activities for BC students. The process in no longer simply open to groups that were designated “student programs”.

What is a “BC Student Organization”?

ASG defines a “student organization” as:

“A Student Organization is student-led and student-driven. Students set the agenda for what the group will do, manage the group’s events and activities, run their own officer elections and set the goals for themselves. Becoming a Chartered Student Organization means that a student organization is officially recognized by the College and has access to support and College resources. The student org’s advisor and the Office of Student Engagement support student organizations through a student-development-centered approach that fosters learning and personal growth for involved students. To be an official student organization at BC, student organizations must charter through ASG and the Office of Student Engagement. Student organizations at Bellevue College do not have paid faculty or staff advisors, and student leadership positions are also voluntary. Student organizations are different from other groups on campus which may have a staff or faculty member who oversees the group and who may set expectations for students participating. Other groups may have student leaders, but they are not considered student organizations at BC.”

The S&A Committee

The S&A committee’s mission is to review requests and make a budget recommendation to the college and the Bellevue College Board of Trustees for annual approval.

The S&A Committee is made up of seven voting members:

  •             The ASG President and Treasurer
  •             2 Students at large
  •             1 Classified staff member
  •             1 Exempt staff member
  •             1 Faculty member

The committee is advised by the Executive Director of Finance and the Director of Student Engagement (Student Programs.) They attend meetings and provide advice/ clarifications/ information for the committee. However, the Executive Director of Finance and the Director of Student Engagement are not voting members.

The committee meets for trainings, determination of committee’s funding priorities, review of applications and appeals.

Nominations and volunteers will be sought for student, staff and faculty committee members. ASG will select the student members of the committee. ASG and President’s Cabinet will collaboratively review and select the three staff/ faculty committee members.

Are there other criteria for being eligible for S&A Funds?

There are many criteria for a request being eligible for S&A funds. The following are not exhaustive list but provide basic guidance:

  • Funds are for co-curricular and extracurricular purposes. Co-curricular activity is defined in the ASG Financial Code as:

“Any student activity which may offer an enriched academic experience that may complement credit course offerings, and is open to all BC students. BC Students do not receive academic credits for participating in these activities. Students may earn extra credit at faculty discretion, but participation is open to all students.”

Extracurricular activity is defined in the ASG Financial Code as:

“Any student activity which is available to any BC student, AND for which a student is not required to enroll in a course in order to participate. Students do not receive academic credits for participating in these activities. Students may earn extra credit at faculty discretion, but participation is open to all students.”

  • Funds are for the benefit of BC students.
  • Funds can be used to cover yearly costs, startup costs and one-time asks (a specific event or equipment ask).
  • Funds are not to be used for activities that are curricular in nature. The ASG Financial Code defines curricular activity as:

“A curricular activity is an activity that is assigned as part of a course of curriculum and is restricted to students who are enrolled in a particular class or program of study. Students earn academic credit for these activities. As defined in Services and Activities (S+A) Fee Use – Compliance and Guidance Document: “S&A funds are not curricular in nature. They are for co-curricular or extracurricular involvement (Killian, pg 2). A class cannot be required for an experience that is funded by S&A and S&A funds cannot be used for curriculum needs.”

  • S&A funds should not be used for items that could be “considered part of the fundamental educational objective of, and basic services provided by the college.” (Killian, pg 5). If a service is viewed as a basic operational service of the college or department, the item should not be funded through the S&A process.
  • S&A fund use should be proportional to the extracurricular or co-curricular use. An example of proportional funding would be the funding of a renovation project where the space is used for both institutional and student extracurricular/co-curricular uses. If funds were being spent to upgrade the space, the percentage of the total project cost funded by S&A funds should not exceed the percentage of time that the extracurricular/co-curricular events use the space.
  • When S&A funds are used as “seed money” (i.e. money used to start a new program that complies with S&A funds use), all resulting revenues from the event/service are considered to have been co-mingled with state funds and therefore fall under college and state spending restrictions pertaining to public funds. (Killian, pg. 6).
  • S&A funds may only be used as specified by the approved funding request. If funds are not used during the approved funding window, the funds will be returned. Unused funds do not roll over into the subsequent fiscal year unless approved by the S&A committee.
  • S&A funds cannot be spent on outreach or recruitment activities to non-students (Killian, pg. 6).
  • S&A funds can be used for student employment if the employment meets all other criteria guiding S&A fund use.
  • S&A Funds must be used for what they were requested and approved for.

Key Notes:

  • Even if funding requests meet appropriate standards for S&A eligibility, the committee (or the ASG BOD during the school year) may not fund all requests due to a variety of factors.
  • S&A funding is not guaranteed from year to year.
  • Rollover of funds requested during the annual S&A budget process are not guaranteed as those funds were approved in the previous budget cycle. Applicants can request rollover of funds but approval is at committee’s discretion.

Questions Related to the Compliance and S&A Use:

If one has a question regarding compliance or use of S&A funds, please contact the Office of Engagement (Student Programs) Director, Carrie Moore.

I read something about an “Office of Student Engagement.” What is that?

The Office of Student Programs is changing its name to the Office of Student Engagement. The change better reflects the mission of the office and its goal to focus on the involvement and leadership experiences for BC students.

General Questions?

Please contact Carrie Moore, Director of Student Engagement (Student Programs), carrie.m.moore@bellevuecollege.edu.

Documents:

Services & Activities Fee Funding Allocations 2021-2022

2021-2022 Allocations approved by the Board of Trustees on 6/16/2021 (link to PDF)

    • A zero indicates the group either did not submit an application for S&A, withdrew their application during the process, or the application was denied.
    • The Board of Trustees of Bellevue College are the deciding authority for the annual S&A budget allocations.

Last Updated August 20, 2021