Last year, the University of Indianapolis altered the way Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) receive funding. This came as a shock to many RSO leaders, with some losing thousands of dollars in saved money.
The new budget system was set to reduce the amount of unused money by RSOs, rather than allowing groups to save their allotted money, according to Carolyn Golz, Vice President of Student Affairs and Student Success. This way, money that has been unused can go to RSOs that need it.
“We realized that previously, every student organization was getting flat funding… and nobody was coming behind to sweep that money back if you didn’t spend it.” explained Golz.
Serving as advisor for the Student Occupational Therapy Association, Kristina Watkins, Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, suddenly noticed the removal of approximately $5,000 worth of saved funds in the 2025-2026 school year after the change. Watkins understood the need for a more sustainable process, but had an issue with Student Affairs “having gone backwards and taken that funding away, versus a ‘from here on out, this is how we’re going to do it.”
UIndy is home to RSOs that fit a variety of student interests, such as academic, service, cultural, and recreational organizations according to the university’s website. Many clubs, like the Student Occupational Therapy Association, focus on a specific major for events, while others like the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) encourage campus wide attendance.
“We’re basically running as if we have $0.” said PRSSA President, Allison Dininger, “So we have events coming up, if there’s something that we have to pay for, since we don’t have a budget yet, I’m just paying for it myself… and the reimbursement process is so lengthy.”
As described in a letter to the editor by Dininger, over 70 RSOs are getting similar treatment when it comes to requesting a new budget every semester. With “minimal communication from the university,” PRSSA’s 2025-2026 budget was not approved until late into the semester, leading to a delay in event planning.
The majority of the money PRSSA had saved was reserved for sending a select number of students to a national Public Relations Society of America conference, which they have been doing for years. This conference provided PR students with networking opportunities that are extremely important for their future careers, according to Dininger.
“Last year we decided, because we had seen all these organizations getting money and not spending it, rather than giving everybody a flat amount of money, let’s have a pool of money, and the organizations that want and need money to spend to fund their events, can request funding through [the Student Government Association].” explained Golz.
“[SGA is] probably going to have those biases of clubs that they know about versus clubs they don’t, which is fine because that’s just natural.” said Dininger. “But how are they supposed to know what exactly every single club does?”
This problem is not unique to the PRSSA. Watkins’ RSO also travels to a national conference every year, which relies on the saved funding for registration, travel and other expenses. Losing the money made it impossible for PRSSA to attend their conference, along with Watkins.
“So we fought that and did get [the money] back. But, I’ve talked to other RSO advisors who I know did not get [their money] back…” said Watkins, “I felt like it was not equitable… Like everyone wasn’t really treated the same. It was a very ‘if you fought it hard enough, maybe you got it back.”
While Watkins was able to successfully advocate for her saved funds back, PRSSA struggled to get their yearly funding, according to Dininger. Dinginger had to let members of her club know they would not be receiving the benefits, like attending their yearly conference, much to their disappointment.
“It’s pretty discouraging to kind of have the thought planted in your brain that the university doesn’t care as much about PR as they might with other organizations.” said Ella Jones, Communication Chair of PRSSA.
If you have questions regarding your RSO, please direct them to the Office of Student Engagement and Belonging.
