Recognized Student Organizations can utilize university fiscal accounts for a variety of RSO financial needs. Each RSO is assigned to an Allocation Committee based on the category of the organization or the department in which they are affiliated. Below is a basic overview of student organization financial information. If you have particular questions about budgets, payments, or finances, contact the respective allocation committee representative below:
- Center for Intercultural Life: Carolyn Barber-Pierre, pierre@tulane.edu
- Center for Public Service: Maurice Smith, mlsmith@tulane.edu
- Club Sports: Zach Bracey, zbracey@tulane.edu
- Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life: Ben Griffith, bgriffith@tulane.edu
The student body at Tulane assesses itself with a Student Activity Fee to support its activities. The Student Activity fee entitles students to participate in or attend supported activities, admission to many intercollegiate athletic contests, movies, lectures, and more.
The Student Activity Fee Allocations Council allocates student activity fees to enable and empower a student-created and led, thriving community of Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) and student experience for all students. In alignment with our EDI statement, the SAFAC applies equitable funding decisions to represent the interest of the undergraduate students and enhances campus life by supporting the mission and values of Tulane.
The SAFAC distributes funds annually to Allocation Committees and the Graduate and Professional Student Association. The SAFAC also distributed funding as needed through the Reserve Funding Projects.
- The Student Activity Fee Allocations Council shall consist of the following voting and non-voting members
- SAFAC Co-Chair, elected by the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly, shall serve as co-chair and vote only in the case of a tie
- SAFAC Co-Chair, Assistant Vice President for Campus Life, Division of Student Affairs, a non-voting member who shall serve as co-chair
- One student from each of the student organization Allocation Committees as a voting member
- One undergraduate student at large selected by but not from the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly
- One graduate or professional student at large selected by but not from GAPSA
- Three advisors whose membership on the committee rotates annually within the Allocation Committees
The Student Activity Fee Allocations Council distributes funds annually to four Allocation Committees (AC):
- Center for Intercultural Life (CIL) Allocation Committee
- Center for Public (CPS) Service Allocation Committee
- Club Sports Allocation Committee
- Lavin-Bernick Center (LBC) Allocation Committee
Each Allocation Committee works with designated student organizations for annual budgets, first-time. budgets, travel funding, and more. The Allocation Committee also manages the payment, reimbursement, and deposit processes for their student organizations.
All recognized student organizations who are eligible to receive student activity fee funding will be able to request certain budgets, if applicable. For undergraduate student organizations, all budget requests will take place on Wavesync via your organization’s finance tab. For GAPSA organization budgets, please read the GAPSA Funding FAQs. For Department Sponsored and Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs organizations, please contact your department staff and advisors for budget processes. For more information/instructions on how to request the different types of recognized student organization budgets, please see the drop downs below.
- Each academic year, in the spring semester, active undergraduate recognized student organizations, who are eligible to receive student activity fee funding (this does not include GAPSA, department sponsored and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Programs organizations) have the opportunity to request an annual budget from the four allocation committees mentioned above. If you do not know which allocation committee you fall under, check the organization category that the Allocation Committee supports above and visit the LBC's Join an Organization page to confirm your organizations category and Allocation Committee you would report to.
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Annual Budgets are requested for the next academic year, and last for that entire academic year. Semesterly budgets are not given. Along with the RSO Advisor, it is the student organizations responsibility to track their budget once it is allocated by the Allocation Committee by reviewing monthly budget statements (if an advisor needs access or instructions on how to access the budget statements, click here) Once the Allocation Committee allocates the annual budgets, they do not go into effect until July 1st of that year.
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For guidelines on what can be requested in an annual budget in connection with student activity fee funding, please refer to the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee Guidelines here. Please note, different allocation committees may have slight differences in their processes and what they deem eligible to fund under university policy. For questions or clarification, please contact the Allocation Committee’s point of contact referenced above.
The student body at Tulane assesses itself with a Student Activity Fee to support its activities. The Student Activity fee entitles students to participate in or attend supported activities, admission to many intercollegiate athletic contests, movies, lectures, and more.
The student body at Tulane assesses itself with a Student Activity Fee to support its activities. The Student Activity fee entitles students to participate in or attend supported activities, admission to many intercollegiate athletic contests, movies, lectures, and more.
The student body at Tulane assesses itself with a Student Activity Fee to support its activities. The Student Activity fee entitles students to participate in or attend supported activities, admission to many intercollegiate athletic contests, movies, lectures, and more.
There are 3 common types of accounts that RSOs use to manage and utilize organization funds:
- 2-Account (Expense): Type of account that is used for paying organization expenses such as programs, equipment, services, etc. A 2-account is a six-digit account number that begins with the number "2". Funds in this account come from the Student Activities Fee allocations. Allocations should be spent on items that were approved as part of the annual budget process.
- 9-Account (Agency): Type of account that is used to deposit funds raised by an organization on their own such as fundraising initiatives, dues, donations, etc. These funds must not be generated from an event or initiative that used 2-account funds. Funds in this account may be used for any organization activity or resource needs. A 9-account is a six-digit account number that begins with the number "9".
- 1-Account (Income): Type of account used to deposit revenue generated from an event or initiative that used 2-account funds (ex. revenue from ticket sales for an event that was paid for with university funds/2-account). Most RSOs don't need a 1-account. A 1-account is a six digit account number that begins with the number "1".
USG or GAPSA Sponsored Student Organizations
- Email the LBC Associate Director of Administration and Finance, Jane Rushing, at rushing@tulane.edu or 504-314-2915 to request a 9-Account. A request will be submitted on behalf of your organization to the Accounting Office. Once the Accounting Office has created the account, a confirmation email with the account number will be sent to your RSO Advisor.
- 2-Accounts will be automatically created upon a budget allocation approval through the USG or GAPSA budget process.
- 1-Accounts will be created on an as-needed basis.
Department or OFSP Sponsored Student Organizations
- Contact your department for account creation. A representative from that department and/or your RSO Advisor would submit the request for an account to the Accounting Office.
Upon account creation, your organization account number will be emailed to your RSO advisor. Your account number is located on your monthly budget statement which may be accessed by your RSO advisor. Details to access the budget statement are listed below in the "How to Access Budget Statements" section. If you have additional questions, contact your respective Allocation Committee representative.
Recognized Student Organization account numbers can be found at the link here.
Budget statements with an organization's account balance are available monthly in Cognos and can be accessed by your RSO advisor. If your advisor needs to request access to your organization account, they should email the Allocation Committee representative with the following details:
- Advisor first and last name
- Advisor email address
- Name of organization(s)
- Indicate if they already have Cognos access through their department or if this will be new access
Budget statements and transaction reports for Recognized Student Organizations are available in Cognos. These statements are available at the end of the first week of each month (usually around the 7th or 8th) for the previous month’s activity. For example, you will be able to see the October statement and transaction activity by around the 8th of November.
- Go to Gibson.tulane.edu
- Under Services, click on “Cognos Finance Reporting”
- Sign in with Tulane ID, password
- Go to left menu, click “TAMS Monthly Statements”
- Click “GL” (General Ledger)
- Two options will be helpful: GL Budget Statement Report (summary of budget each month) and GL Transaction Report (individual monthly transactions)
- For either report: Please select value for period (date of report desired)
- Select account number (enter 6 digit number)
- Click “Search” and result will appear
- Click “Insert” to put in other box
- Click “Finish”
