Associated Student Government allocated over $13,700 at its New Student Organization Funding Senate on Wednesday.
Ten student groups presented to ASG for funding, and each received at least $300.
ASG had $15,000 total to allocate. The remaining $1,280 will roll over for allocation next quarter.
Student organizations submit upper and lower bound requests for consideration by ASG. The lower bound is the minimum a group needs for an item or event in relation to the organization’s budget, while the upper bound is how much the organization would like for an item or event to function.
The 10 groups requested a total of $13,190 for their lower bound requests. Each organization could have received their minimum request and ASG still would have had $1,809 to distribute.
Seven of the 10 groups received allocations that met their lower bound request. However, three organizations did not receive funding greater than or equal to their lower bound request.
“The results of tonight were a betrayal of the Senate’s purpose for Funding Senate,” McCormick senior and Senator Ryan Beam said. “It’s an insult to clubs who come when we have the ability to fully fund all of the clubs to at least their lower bound and still have money left over.”
Of the seven who met their lower bound request, two groups received allocations equivalent to their upper bound request: Northwestern Muslim Business Student Association and Arco.
MBSA was the night’s top earner. The organization received $2,745, primarily for its office visits to Chicago consulting firms.
Following MBSA, Open Democracy Undergraduate was the second-highest earner, receiving $2,300. The funding will mainly support three projects the organization plans to work on next quarter. ODU was allocated over $1,000 more than it received for the current quarter in the last Funding Senate.
Arco, one of the two organizations that met their upper bound request, was created this quarter for queer Latine students and their allies.
The group had worked for University approval since October 2025 and just recently earned it, Weinberg sophomore and Arco President Daniela Caceres said.
“The minute that so many people had seconded our upper bound, I was so happy,” Caceres said. “This is my dream for our org.”
Sport Management Club, ColorStack Northwestern and Consult Your Community all received funding less than their lower bound.
This was the second consecutive quarter that SMC did not receive its full funding request from ASG, though it received nearly $936, more than double of what it received in the Fall Quarter meeting.
ColorStack received $800 less than its lower bound request, which was the largest negative difference between an organization’s lower bound request and money received during this Senate meeting. ColorStack also had the highest lower bound request of more than $2,600.
Northwestern APIDA Pre-Law Association, Journalists in Law, reel8 productions, Open Democracy Undergraduate and Health Equity Northwestern all received funding between their lower and upper bound requests.
Weinberg senior and Speaker of the Senate Kaitlyn Salgado-Alvarez said organizations requested a significantly lower total amount of funding in Winter Quarter than Fall Quarter.
Salgado-Alvarez said because there were fewer requests for funding this quarter, ASG had more flexibility in allocation.
“For meetings where we have more flexibility and what we can fund, there’s less deliberation or there’s less heated conversations in terms of where we should allocate our money because we have more flexibility.” Salgado-Alvarez said
Last quarter, ASG allocated $14,558 to 22 student groups in the first week of its Funding Senate. The top earners were Survivor Advocacy through Greek Engagement and Open Democracy Undergraduate.
ASG will allocate the remaining funding to new organizations and will also hold its annual Funding Senate for existing groups in Spring Quarter.
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Bluesky: @isadoraufernandes.bsky.social
Email: [email protected]
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