The Center for Student Programs found itself with $40,000 in unspent student activities fees last semester after it underestimated the number of students who would enroll this academic year. The amount is slightly more than 20 percent of the total amount of money available for clubs this year. According to Erika Cohen-Derr, director of student programs, half of the annual $100 student activities fee paid by each student is placed into an endowment, which she said was created to support student activities in future years. The other half is slated to be spent in the academic year it is collected. Cohen-Derr said that, because budgeting for student clubs is done well in advance of the fall semester, the committee can only estimate the number of students who will matriculate in the upcoming academic year. In this case, she said that a sharp increase in the number of enrolling students led to the $40,000 surplus. “It can be a game to see how close we can get,” she said. She added that the extra $40,000 is waiting to be allocated, which can be done by GUSA and the GUSA Finance and Appropriations Committee when they plan next year’s student activities budget. “This money could go into contingency funds to be used if a deficit occurs for any of the boards, or it will go into the endowment,” she said. Zack Bluestone (SFS ’09), chairman of this committee, said that directing some of the money into this endowment is important because it may lead to the eventual elimination of the fee. “Half of the money from the activity fee goes to the endowment because we hope to eventually fund activities from the endowment and remove the activity fee,” he said. Beginning in January of each year, the GUSA Finance and Appropriations Committee, which consists of seven GUSA senators and six external advisors, plan the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins and ends in June. This process generally continues until March, when the budget is sent to the GUSA Senate for approval, according to Bluestone. Upon approval, the funds are turned over to the five advisory boards represented on the committee, including the Students Activities Commission, the Advisory Board for Club Sports, the Media Advisory Board, the Performing Arts Advisory Board and the Center for Social Justice. These five groups then further allocate the funds to the host of Georgetown student organizations. “The committee budgets conservatively to prevent deficits from occurring, [but] the budget has run a surplus every year,” said Eden Schiffmann (COL ’08), speaker of the GUSA Senate and a former member of THE HOYA Editorial Board. “There is often a surplus from the advisory boards,” Bluestone said. “There is also a reserve fund, which is usually 5 percent of the budget in case anyone spends too much.” “You can always take more [money] out, but you cannot put more in,” Schiffmann said.