RHA uses funds for dorm events, programming

In an effort to make the residence halls around campus more than a place to sleep, the Residence Halls Association focuses its financial attention on programming endeavors within the residence halls.

RHA receives money from the Student Activity Fee that students living in the residence halls pay, RHA President Katie Lambert said.

“RHA gets a portion of the funds and the rest is split amongst other campus organizations, like IUSA,” Lambert said. “This money allows us to spend on programming and other leadership opportunities within the residence halls.”

The money is then broken down further, and a certain amount is allocated to each residential center.

“We use this money for the RAs to program different events throughout the year such as movie nights, study breaks during finals, or Little Five events,” Forest Quad President Wyatt Jackson said. “These activities help students feel more at home than living in just a dorm.”

In addition to programming, part of the RHA budget goes to the RHA Funding Board.
The Funding Board allows other organizations to request money for events within the residence halls, RHA Director of Financial Affairs Spencer Petry said.

“We take requests for the RHA Funding Board on a case-by-case basis,” Petry said.
“Priority is given to those organizations that don’t have an outside budget. Our requests tend to range from $500 to $2,000.”

For example, last October the RHA Funding Board helped fund the Chinese Moon Festival with the Asian Culture Center by allocating $800 to the event.The RHA Funding Board spent the largest amount, $2,000, to fund the Raas Royalty Roundtable event in December.

“How money is spent in RHA is determined by a mixture of everyone,” Lambert said. “A budget is created and the center presidents and other delegates vote on whether it should pass or not.”

In addition to funding from the Student Activity Fee, RHA receives money from the sale of care packages that parents can purchase for their children. This money goes into the Executive Funding Account.

“The money from the Executive Funding Account is used for buying food for RHA meetings or RHA training,” Petry said. “We would not want to use the students’ money for these purposes because the funding does not directly impact them.”

Overall, RHA’s main financial goal is to spend money in a way that will benefit the students of the residence halls in some manner.

“The students are paying for RHA to exist,” Lambert said. “We want to provide an opportunity to pay them back and do so in a way that’s best for them.”