A decrease in student fee revenue and an increase in funding requests will lead to cuts in funding to student organizations for the second year in a row.

The Government of Student Body finance committee will be dealing with a budget shortfall of $406,000, the largest gap between what student organizations have made requests for and what the GSB has been able to provide in recent memory, and larger than last year’s $300,000 shortfall.

“It’s pretty grim,” said Casey Harvey, member of the finance committee.

In a letter given to the senate Wednesday, GSB Finance Director David Boike said after one hearing, the commitee had only been able to reduce student group budget requests by $112,000, less than one-third the total cuts needed before the GSB finance budget can be balanced.

The committee has two more hearings to make the required cuts.

“We do not have the latitude to fund all groups as much as we would like this year,” Boike wrote in a memo to the senate. “Some difficult decisions are coming for the finance commitee and for the senate, and it will be impossible to fund every group in the amount you would like to fund them.”

GSB senator and finance committee member David Breutzman said for organizations depending on GSB funds to operate, the repercussions of the shortfall could be unpleasant.

“A lot of groups are going to have to get by with less than they want,” he said. “We’ll do our best to make sure everyone gets what they need to survive.”

Harvey said the shortfall was generally expected because of two obvious indicators, but that no one in the finance commitee expected the gap to be as large as it is.

He said the first sign of trouble came last year when a $1 increase in student fees wasn’t approved. The other large contribution to the deficit is lower enrollment among fee-paying full-time students.

Severe increases in budget requests from larger groups, such as the Public Interest Research Group and the Financial Counseling Clinic, also contributed, Boike said.

He said the Financial Counseling Clinic has already had its allocations reduced to $49,000 and may be seeing even more cuts.

“If the budget is not balanced by the end of the allocations hearings, it’s generally the bigger groups that get called back in for budget balancing,” he said. “Out of necessity, it’s the bigger groups that get hit the hardest when we’re short.”

The six largest requests from student organizations, aside from student-funded offices, are the Committee on Lectures, the Performing Arts Council, Public Interest Research Group, Ethos Magazine, GSB/Instructional Technology Center Media Equipment Committee and ISU Theatre, Boike said.

“After that, the requests drop by over $20,000,” Boike said.

He said student-funded offices, such as the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic, Student Legal Services, the Financial Counseling Clinic and the GSB itself will see cuts in appropriations as well.

However, larger groups are not the only ones that can expect cuts to their allocations.

“Smaller groups can expect us to be very strict on their budgets as well,” Boike said. “If it’s not criteria [items which GSB generally pays for, including essential equipment and club trips], they can expect it to be cut. And even if it is criteria, they’re still not safe.”

Officials of one such small group, ISU AfterDark, said with a reduction in funding, it would no longer be able to provide any activities. AfterDark advertises itself as a late-night and weekend programming group that provides alternative activities to drinking parties.

“We’re currently having quite a hard time coming up with funds and such,” said group President Aaron Bullington. “We make do with what we have, and try to provide as many activities as possible.”

Boike said GSB will inevitably have to dip into the $230,000 special projects fund, which GSB uses as a reserve fund for the uses of purchasing capital equipment for student groups.

Chelsea Lepley, president of the Public Interest Research Group, said she understands the dire straits being seen by the finance Committee, and how it will affect her organization.

“We understand that we’ve submitted our ideal budget, and we probably won’t get that much,” she said. “Most groups don’t get every penny they ask for. We’ll just make the most of what we get.”

However, she said, enough to maintain a full-time staff and fund an operating budget for group projects is needed if the group is to survive.

Jane Cox, adviser and president of ISU Theatre, said the cuts represented a danger to her organization.

“This year, we requested $1,500 less than we did last year. I think we’re pretty much at the bare minimum of funding that we need to exist,” said Cox, professor of music.