The university’s Student Government Association released the budget for this semester, which reveals the  plan to spend $8,400 of the total $10,620.

According to SGA’s Secretary of Administration Justin Wynne the SGA budget comes from the university’s accounts.

As outlined in the budget, Wynne said at one point the money for an SGA display board might have gone to the rally for higher education. He said the rally is an “SGA sponsored bussing of students down to Frankfort to meet with legislators to essentially preserve higher education spending.”

One of the reason for holding a rally this year was the decision to approve a 2.5 percent budget cut to Kentucky universities, according to Wynne. He said that as of last week, there was still no plan to participate in a rally this year. He suggested that concerned students should contact legislators through phone calls.

According to SGA President Erik Pederson, the reason behind NKU not taking part in the rally is because this year is not a budget year. That means that the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, which decides how much funds are given to postsecondary schools like colleges, does not meet at all this year. Pederson said that the council hold biennium sessions, meaning that they met every other year.

The SGA budget has also set aside $1,600 for this semester’s town hall meetings, which includes events such as the postponed meeting to decide which franchise could come to NKU and was originally scheduled for this week.

The $1,300 set aside for student employment is meant to supplement student workers’ salaries, according to Pederson. He also added that all extra money is allocated to next semester’s funds.

Wynne said that SGA has $3,000 assigned for the Kentucky Leadership Association conference. He said that newly elected SGA members go to it to attend seminars and “hammer out various plans for the coming year.” Wynne added that these usually happen in the summer right before school starts.

According to Wynne, the actual cost of the conference is closer to $2,500 and the extra $500 serves as breathing room for the conference. He said that NKU has done away with its van system, which means that the SGA has to rent transportation from Enterprise.