Graduates should possess an understanding of and appreciation for the dynamics involved in utilizing financial resources in the implementation of student affairs programs and services. Specifically, students should be able to:
- develop and defend a budget to support a student affairs program;
- perform all of the functions necessary to access and manage those resources which have been dedicated to a student affairs program.
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Fall 2009 Residence Life Expenditures
Each semester I am entrusted with a budget of roughly $2,000 to use for student programming and student leader development. The budget was pre-divided into sub-categories for me but still allows me to be creative in utilizing these resources. Attached is the Excel document tracking the monies from the Fall 2009 semester.
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Community Mentor Budget Worksheet
In an effort to continue challenging and empowering my student leaders (Astin, 1984) I recently made a transition to providing my Community Mentors (CM) with a small budget for them to use at their own discretion, with my supervision. Each CM is allotted $150 to cover expenses for their hall events throughout the semester. They are expected to keep track of their resources using the attached budget worksheet. At the end of the semester the CMs are expected to submit a completed budget worksheet. I am anxious to receive feedback from my student leaders at the end of the semester as to whether or not this was a beneficial idea.
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Though a hypothetical situation, this PowerPoint reflects how some members of my cohort and I would respond to a mandatory mid-year budget recall of 6%. During class we were each assigned to a different hypothetical budget question and asked to work as a team toward a solution and then to present the challenge and the devised solution to the class. Our proposal is presented in these PowerPoint slides. As a group we approached the budget crisis from a human resources framework (Boleman & Deal, 2003). It was helpful to recognize the varying frameworks through which a university may view and respond to a challenge such as this. Responding from a human resources view resulted in having the utmost concern for the employees of the university.
