Student activity funding sees a spike in applications, leaving some short of funding
Rice’s Student Activities/President’s Programming Fund is experiencing a significant rise in demand this academic year, with applications increasing by over 60% compared to last year, according to SAPP administrators.
SAPP is a supplemental funding resource aimed at supporting student organizations in hosting events that foster community and engagement. With the resurgence of student programming and expanded outreach efforts in the post-pandemic era, the volume of funding requests has outpaced previous years.
“Each SAPP round this academic year has seen a cumulative increase of over 60% in applications,” Taylor Rogers, a Baker College junior and SAPP student assistant, and Caity Hoover, the assistant director of student engagement at the Student Center, wrote in an email to the Thresher.
“This reflects both rising student enthusiasm and the need for meaningful programming across campus. It also highlights a continued resurgence in student engagement and campus programming, particularly as clubs rebuild momentum in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic.”
According to Hoover and Rogers, due to the increased demands, the funding decisions are now made with more careful evaluations. They said that the funding will continue to prioritize events that foster community and engage with the broader Rice population.
Considering the increase in applications, Guomin Xu, co-president of Rice Linguistics Society, explained their plans to cut expenses.
“We were hoping to get $1,000 for [the International Mother Language Day event], like last year — but we only received $250 this time,” said Xu, a Duncan College junior. “We’re probably just gonna cut back on what we use, and we’re probably just gonna do events that cost us no money, inviting our professors in to speak, or like when we host the year-end party, we’ll make it like a potluck so that we don’t have to pay for anything.”
In response to the changes, Hoover and Rogers said that they were working on raising funds. They also said they worked on providing resources for students to pursue other external fundraising, such as SA initiative funding and new club funding.
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