NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF

GRADUATE STUDENTS

REPORT OF THE BUDGET COMMITTEE

FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012

DOMINICK ARD’IS, CHAIR

ANDREW GLAZIER, VICE CHAIR

JOSHUA ENGLEHARDT CLAUDIA LIEBERWIRTH

ROSARIO RAMIREZ QUINN STRAUB

AMANDA TAZAZ BRANDON WARREN

 Introduction

In this proposal, the Budget Committee of the Congress of Graduate Students is

presenting the Assembly with a budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. The intention of the

Budget Committee is to support the mission of COGS, which is to both defend the interests of all

post-baccalaureate students in graduate student life, services, and academics while also

managing the funds within our purview in a fiscally responsible manner. To do so, the

Committee has worked to balance increased funding for successful academic and professional

programs with a desire to trim wasteful expenditures and unspent money.

The Committee would like to recognize and thank the assistance of several people who

helped make these deliberations possible. Director of Student Affairs Vicki Adobiyanski sat in

on the assembly’s deliberations. Her input proved beneficial on several matters concerning

conflict of interest and proviso language concerning appropriation recommendations from the

committee. Barbara Speck and Julie Uhland pulled together the COGS budget data from the past

two years, and have been fantastic at managing the grant programs and COGS office.

Representatives Dominick Ard’is, chair of committee, and Andrew Glazier, vice-chair, both

recorded the minutes and compiled the budget report.

While the Committee was unanimous on every line item recommendation in the budget,

discussion was enthusiastic and rigorous as this budget reflects a fair and balanced allocation of

COGS funds. We also feel that this budget is one that will be of excellent service to the graduate

community at large. It is our hope that the Assembly will feel the same way when the budget is

proposed.
 Table of Contents

Proposed Budget..............................................................................................................................3
Organizational Support....................................................................................................................4
FSU Children’s Center.........................................................................................................4
The Graduate School........................................................................................................4-5
Program for Instructional Excellence..................................................................................5
Scholar’s Commons Library................................................................................................5
Black Graduate Student Association...................................................................................6
MBA Association.................................................................................................................6
Funding Boards................................................................................................................................6
Medical Student Council......................................................................................................7
Law Student Council ….......................................................................................................7
COGS Grant Programs....................................................................................................................8
Presentation Grant................................................................................................................8
Dissertation Research Grant................................................................................................9
Organizational Support Grant............................................................................................10
COGS Administrative....................................................................................................................10
Academic Conference Support Grants...........................................................................................11

Proviso Recommendations..............................................................................................5, 9, and 10

 OPS Cont. Clothing/
Organizational Support Salary Wages Serv. Expense Food Awards OCO Total
FSU Children's Center $60,000 $60,000
The Graduate School $1,514 $11,403 $12,917
PIE $492 $4,913 $5,504
Scholar’s Commons* $10,000 $10,000
BGSA $1,000 $2,500 $500 $4,000
MBAA $3,000 $2,350 $750 $6,100
LSC $50,000 $50,000
MSC $42,600 $42,600

COGS Grant Programs

Presentation* $180,000 $180,000
A&P Conference Support $25,000 $25,000
Dissertation Research $10,000 $10,000
Organizational Support Grant* $2,500 $2,500

COGS Admin - 244001 $110,164

Salary $83,060 $83,060
Speaker $10,166 $10,166
Financial Officer $5,865 $5,865
Food $2,400 $2,400
Clothing & Awards $200 $200
Facility Rental $0 $0
Printing & Postage $1,000 $1,000
Advertising $0 $0
Office Supplies $2,000 $2,000
NAGPS Membership $500 $500
Telephone $2,500 $2,500
Maintenance & Repair $1,000 $1,000
Insurance $800 $800
Travel $4000 $4000
Overhead $13,060 $13,060

COGS Unallocated - 244003 $0 $0 $0 $64,881 $0 $0 $0 $64,881

Summaries: Salary OPS C/S Expense Food C&A OCO Total

$83,060 $76,031 $4,000 $352,062 $19,966 $0 $0 $600,000
* Denotes Proviso Limitation
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 4

Organizational Support

Six organizations requested line item funding from COGS this year: the FSU Children’s

Center (formerly Alumni Village Childcare), the Graduate School, the Program for Instructional

Excellence, the Scholar’s Common (Library), the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA),

and the Masters of Business Association (MBA).

The Children’s Center requested $42,924 for six part-time teaching assistants for 2011-

2012. The committee feels that while the direct benefit per student is substantially low (the

Children’s Center only has 36 spots for daycare), the Center provides two important functions

to the University. First, it provides graduate students an opportunity to conduct research and

serves as a teaching lab for multiple departments on campus, especially Education. To date, they

have served as a conduit for 31 students to conduct research since 2005. Secondly, it serves as a

recruitment tool for potential graduate students of FSU, as many of them may be parents of

young children. Due to a cut in funding from Senate, totaling $20,000, after deliberations were

complete and a surplus was recognized within COGS’ unallocated account, the committee made

a unanimous decision to service the Children’s Center’s need by increasing its allocation

$20,000. This decision was the desire of all budget committee representatives.

The Graduate School presented four requests. The first was for $1339 for chairs, tables,

and a tent at New Graduate Orientation, which the Committee recommended be funded in full.

The second was for $2300, for catered lunches for the two four-hour Professional Development

Workshops, related to careers in academia throughout the year 2011-2012. The third request

presented by the Graduate School is for the 2nd annual Carnival at the Rez event, which takes

place in the fall for graduate students and their families. This request totaled $8,160. Through

social interactions this event is designed to encourage graduate students from various disciplines
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 5

to meet and interact with each other and hopes to foster interdisciplinary innovations in research.

Allocations for this event would cover food (for hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, lemonade, pavilions,

and servers). The fourth request was for $1,118 for the Celebration of Graduate Student

Excellence. This allocation will cover food for a reception following this event where all

graduate students are recognized for excellence in teaching, research and creativity, and

leadership each received a certificate and an honorarium of $500. The Committee recommended

that this event be funded in full, understanding the need to recognize the accomplishments of

many graduate students.

The Program for Instructional Excellence requested $5,404.75 for a two-day conference

to be held in August. This conference is intended to supplement the University’s programs to

train teaching assistants; it focuses on educating TAs on the policies and services of the

University as they relate to teaching. The request would provide lunch, drinks, and snacks for

over 300 attendees and presents for the two-day conference. The Committee voted to fund the

request in full, feeling that it was a small amount to pay in light of how much PIE provides to the

University at large.

The Scholars Commons (Library) requested a total of $22,549.72. This request was made

to enhance the technologies used in the graduate computer lab in hopes to encourage graduate

students use of the lab. In review of the Scholar Commons request, the committee saw a need to

improve the scholar’s common computer lab for graduate student use. The committee made a

unanimous decision to fund $10,000 dollars to the Scholars Common Library with proviso

language specific how this money would be utilized. This proviso language reads as follows:

• Four licenses for each software package requested

• 25 StatTransfer
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 6

• Four interview kits specific to budget request.

The Black Graduate Student Association requested a total of $4,500. As this organization

is in rebuilding stages and currently has great leadership in place, the committee decided to fund

BGSA at $4,000. The committee decided not to fund clothing and awards, as we believe that

BGSA can put forth the effort to raise $500. The committee also believes that this allocation will

ensure a solid fiscal foundation in place for their leadership.

The MBA Association requested a total of $10,084.86 in funding for several events.

They intend to host a forum on ethics in business, a dinner teaching etiquette at formal functions,

a forum on women in business, a MBA Case Competition, and food for speaker events

throughout the year. The Committee elected to fund MBAA’s requests at $6,100. The

Committee believes that MBAA conveyed a clear and concise vision in their presentation this

year, showcasing event summaries for next year. However MBAA has not had a history of

spending the funds that have been allocated to them in the past and COGS code does not permit

the funding of plated dinners.i This allocation will assist the MBAA to reach their program goals

for the year thus improving the culture of the business program.

Funding Boards

Unlike the other items in the COGS budget, the two funding boards are funded directly

into the Expense category and allowed to make their own determinations of where the money is

most needed. The theory behind this is that the funding boards are closer to the students they

serve and are therefore more capable of determining where the money is needed than the

Assembly is. LSC funds 33 RSOs, while MSC funds 25, and both the budget process and

Assembly meetings would be far longer and much more complex if we funded all 57 RSOs

directly.
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 7

The Medical Student Council presented a request for $42,600. MSC submitted a large

packet to the Budget Committee which included all 26 of the individual requests from the RSOs,

totaling well over $80,000. MSC also included a chart of the allocations made to each RSO,

totaling $42,600. At the budget hearings, the entire executive board of MSC was present along

with at least 20 members of the exec councils of the RSOs. MSC gave a well-planned,

informative presentation on their requests. Since FSU has no teaching hospital, and since the

med school is focused on primary care, MSC wants to both bring in speakers and send students

to conferences so that they are able to learn about other types of specialized care, ranging from

pediatric care to primary care in rural areas. They also detailed the algorithm they used to pare

down the RSO requests. Each request was fully funded in contractual services in order to bring

speakers in. They were funded at 50% of expenses (mostly travel) and 40% of food, as food is

the “bait” used to get people to the speaking events.

The Budget Committee believes that MSC presented a professional and polished

proposal. It was pointed out that while the previous year’s increase may have been too large for

some members, that was no reason to deny the reasonable increase in funding MSC was asking

for. The Committee therefore recommends that MSC be fully funded at $42,600.

The Law Student Council presented a request for $120,170. The Committee believes that

this request, which reflected only a $15,000 cut from the aggregate allocations made by the

RSOs, did not represent a significant investment of time, thought, or consideration made by LSC

into the budget process. It also felt that the budget request did not show that LSC was making

any sort of progress in proving that it could make substantially reasonable and rational

allocations of money granted by COGS.

 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 8

On the other hand, the Committee believes that the LSC budget hearing was a vast

improvement over last year. LSC brought several RSO officers from the law school, and had a

clear, reasonable, and rational presentation. Many of the questions asked by the Committee were

answered satisfactorily (unlike the previous year), and LSC was able to provide some sort of

justification for their budget request. Furthermore, the Committee believes that LSC, through

improved participation from the law school RSOs and a substantial improvement in paperwork

and allocations over the past year, has shown significant improvement.

Improvement, however, was not enough to justify an increase in budget anywhere near

the sort that LSC was requesting. The Committee agreed that some sort of increase was justified.

Numbers proposed ranged from $42,600 (equal funding as MSC) to $60,000. Most of the

Committee believes that since LSC financially serves a larger amount of RSOs than MSC, then

LSC should be funded to meet the needs and interest of their students. The Committee found

middle ground and decided to fund LSC at $50,000.

COGS Grant Programs

COGS currently funds four grant lines: the Presentation Grants, the Academic &

Professional Conference Support Grants, the Dissertation Research Grant, and the Organizational

Support Grant.

Many members of the Budget Committee believes that the Presentation Grants program

is the most important program that COGS funds. It is certainly the most well-known COGS

program on campus, and thousands of grants have been given to graduate students over the

years. That being said, some members believe that we could put half our budget into these lines

and there would still probably end up being a waitlist. A belief also shared that it is of great

value to the individual students but that the benefit to the graduate community as a whole is
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 9

minimal. However, the Committee as a whole agreed that we could not make a drastic cut in the

program, as it would adversely affect the graduate students who do get a large direct benefit from

the program.

The amount requested for the Presentation Grant line was $160,000; the same amount

requested for previous fiscal years, however, the Committee believes that this amount is

insufficient. An analysis of historical draws on the Presentation Grant line revealed an annual

usage of around $183,000. It was felt that with the increase in our overall budget, the line should

be funded at a level which more closely matched the historical usage. Therefore, the Committee

recommends funding the Presentation Grant line at $180,000.

After examining where the need for grant money fell in FY 2009 and early FY 2010, the

Committee also recommends adding proviso language specific to timeline allocation. This

proviso language reads as follows:

• $60,000 for travel between July 1 and October 31.

• $70,000 for travel between November 1 and January 31.

• $50,000 for travel between February 1 and June 30.

The Academic & Professional Conference Support Grant line was increased last year

from $15,000 to $20,000 due to the fact that the language of the grant was changed to make it

more obviously open to all graduate students. The draw on the line has increased this year, but

not by much over previous years. Therefore the Committee recommends a small increase to

$25,000, rather than the $30,000 requested.

The COGS contribution to the Dissertation Research Grant line is matched 2-for-1 by the

Graduate School up to $10,000, for a total of $30,000. The Committee recommends that the

Assembly once again fund this line at $10,000.

 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 10

The Organizational Support Grant line is what C-SAC draws from. In the past, this has

been funded at $5000. However, there has not been anything approaching a substantial draw on

this line in FY2010. To go before C-SAC and draw from this line, an organization must request

less than $400. Only one organization has come before C-SAC in FY2010. Therefore, the

Committee recommends that the amount put into the line be cut in half, to $2,500.

A bill is also being introduced in the Nineteenth Congress to completely remove C-SAC

and the Organizational Support Grant line. In light of this, the Committee also recommends

attaching proviso language stating that if the line is eliminated, the money will automatically

return to the unallocated account.

COGS Administrative

The COGS Administrative account is composed of all the direct allocations which aren’t

line items or funding boards. All of the following (except the first two mandatory items) are the

Committee’s recommendations for the Admin account.

Salaries are mandatory. The projections were complied by the SA&O office. The rate is

$45,477.17 for Barb and $35,305.19 for Julie. Insurance is also mandatory at $800; this helps

pay for workers’ comp. The number of hours compensated for the Speaker and the Deputy

Speaker of Finance are 50 hours for the Speaker and 30 hours for the Deputy. Each position is

compensated at a rate of $8.50 per hour. The hours were increased in the last budget cycle, and

the Committee feels that this is still an accurate compensation for the time worked on behalf of

COGS.

Food is funded at $2400. This is nearly double the funding from the previous fiscal year,

however, that allocation was made when the Congress met only once per month. Clothing &

Awards is funded at $0; the Committee feels that the Congress should explore options for self-
 2010-2011 Budget Committee Report 11

generating funds to pay for any clothing or internal awards. Facility Rental is funded at $0;

however, this should not be seen as a statement from the Committee saying that no facility

rentals should be funded; rather, that money should only be moved into this category when it is

needed for a specific event.

Printing & Postage ($1000), Advertising ($0), Office Supplies ($2000), NAGPS

Membership ($500), Telephone ($2500), and Maintenance & Repair ($1000) are all level

funded. COGS has not had an advertising budget for three years now. The NAGPS Membership

is important to many members of the Committee. The Telephone and Maintenance costs are

fixed. Printing & Postage and Office Supplies are based on what we have used this year.

Travel was funded at $2000; this is an increase from $2000 in FY2010. $2000 of this

money is generally used to fund the annual lobby trip to DC in the Spring; the other $2000

reflect a new travel cost for COGS; sending representatives to the annual NAGPS conference in

November. Putting this cost in the budget will allow COGS to make plans for this trip much

earlier than it could in FY2010, and hopefully get cheaper flights and hotels.

There is a new allocation in the budget this year; a contribution to overhead. The

University is charging the Student Government Association a 2.2% overhead cost on its total

budget, which is 100% of A&S fees. This cost represents 2.2% of COGS’ budget, which is

composed of 30% of graduate A&S fees. This works out to COGS paying 2.2% on the 30% of

graduate A&S fees which we receive, and Senate paying 2.2% on the 70% of graduate A&S fees

which they receive.

i
The Committee understood the policy of COGS forbidding plated dinners as originating in the COGS
Code. This is factually incorrect. The COGS Code enforces an aggregate limitation of $15 (see COGS
Code §201.7) and it has been the informal policy of the Congress to discourage such dinners, however
there is no COGS based legal impediment.