A change in Student Government Association’s constitution may leave Programming Council scrambling for funds, but the group’s directors are not discouraged yet. In years past, PC, one of the four branches that form SGA, has collected a fixed rate of 50 percent of the student government fee that appears on student tuition bills each semester, said Kristen Chapman, Programming Council chair.

With the passage of new SGA legislation, however, that sum may change, said Nate Arnold, SGA treasurer.

In November, a debate over how to ration SGA’s budget culminated when the student body voted to leave the fate of the PC’s financial stability in the hands of the SGA members who approve the annual budget.

“We are having to spread the money that the students pay – the student fee – among lots of things now,” SGA adviser Natalie Boone said. “It kind of puts us in a hard situation because Programming Council, of course, is like, ‘we need the 50 percent’ but, at the same time, it isn’t fair for the House (of Student Representatives) to only have $10 per committee.”

Now PC is left questioning its future.

“We feel that the 50 percent is a good thing to have established,” Chapman said, “but the change in the budget does not necessarily mean that we will get less than 50. It is really up in the air. We could get more, we could get less.”

In the coming months, Arnold said he will begin the budget proposal process by analyzing SGA expenditures from past years and the potential cost of each future activity. Until Arnold makes a final decision on next year’s budget, PC will not know where it stands financially.

“The good thing about passing this bill is that if it turns out that PC needs more than 50 percent, I will be able to do that,” Arnold said. “But if it turns out that they are overspending, then I can cut it.”

Boone declined to comment on the validity of the new legislation.

“It really will affect Programming Council, I think, if we don’t get what we need,” she said.

But Arnold, who will be the ultimate say in determining next year’s budget, does not consider the bill a major threat.

“It definitely was not meant to threaten PC,” Arnold said. “I know that I supported it because it gave me more power as treasurer – it didn’t bind me to having to do that 50 percent. I don’t think it is a threat at all.”

In any case, Chapman and PC Vice Chair Aaron Wolfe maintained that no matter the outcome, they will continue to put on a variety of events for the student body.

“We just want to be able to always provide quality events that students enjoy and not make people pay,” Wolfe said. “That’s our big concern.