By Ernesto Castorena
Across SUNY Plattsburgh, the phrase ‘budget cuts’ carries different meanings depending on where the funds originate. For clubs recognized by the Student Association (SA) budgets rise and fall with enrollment. For TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) funding follows a federal grant cycle.
For clubs, constraints start early. Galilean Society president Kaelyn DeKalb said that funding requires detailed planning well in advance with the following semester’s activities mapped out before even receiving funds. Even then, some opportunities get lost.
“We’d hold a lot more events with food. We wanted to do one last semester with astronaut food, but didn’t end up doing that because we had two clubs collaborating and no funds,” Dekalb said.
This year, the Galilean Society was required to submit a budget smaller than the year before trimming $50 to $75 from its plans. But with unique and academic goals to visit a planetarium in Montréal and an observatory in Tupper Lake even a modest cut can mean fewer trips, events and opportunities for students.
“We just lost twin valleys, which had an observatory. We don’t have that anymore,” Dekalb said.
On the SA side, limits are set by enrollment. Director of Student Activities Sarah McCarty said that club budgets depend on student enrollment and must be carefully matched to avoid overspending.
“Students within the SA do some cuts across the board in order to stabilize their budget,” McCarty said.
To address the reductions and looking ahead with 77 clubs registered, SA Advisor Tyler Hargraves, seeks to add small additions to club funds each semester.
“We’re reducing club budgets by 20%, but what we are doing to supplement that is adding another $5,000 to additional allocations each semester,” Hargraves said. “Would they see a reduction? Potentially, but would it be a drastic reduction? No. It’s all based on enrollment.”
While that is the case Hargraves emphasizes there are multiple resources to help with funds, including CAS grants for travel and programming, and resources such as decorations that have been stored by the SA ready to be reused.
Enrollment numbers directly determine how much funding is available because each student pays a mandatory Student Activity Fee. If the student body were to vote to make the fee voluntary each student could opt out potentially shrinking the SA budget dramatically.
Many clubs could lose most or all of their funding forcing them to cancel trips, cut events or even go inactive. The next vote on the Student Activity Fee is scheduled for this spring.
TRIO operates in a different lane. Ashley Durocher, Director of TRIO SSS, explained,
“TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO SSS are part of the federally funded national TRIO programs,” Durocher said.
While the Upward Bound federal grant was cancelled, the Administration’s FY2026 budget proposal does have wording to eliminate TRIO, but there would be a vote from congress for this to be able to occur and TRIO programs have historically had strong bi-partisan support. Kimberly Jones of the Council for Opportunity in Education referred to the decision as an attack on students facing obstacles in higher education.
“a direct attack on students who dare to dream of college in the face of adversity,” Jones said in a press release from the Council for Opportunity in Education.
The status of SSS is steady as TRIO has been renewed for this academic year as part of a five-year grant cycle. Regardless of the Upward Bound cancellation no operations at SSS have been impacted. Looking ahead, advocacy continues.
“We’re going to Washington D.C. every year to advocate for a level or increased funding… We’re more than an academic support program. We’re more than advisors. We really care about and invest in all of our students… it’s about the potential that each student has and that’s (SSS) helping them unlock that potential,” Durocher said.
Each student has the potential to make change by being active on campus, being aware of how you can support campus life and speaking up to their congressional representatives. Rep. Elise Stefanik represents the 21st congressional district that SUNY Plattsburgh’s programs are in. In order to keep programs like TRIO SSS strong, more info on protecting TRIO is available on the Council for Opportunity in Education website.
