In a year when the state Legislature is eyeing across-cross-the-board budget cuts, UNM's graduate student government found that sometimes it just pays to be lucky.
The Graduate and Professional Student Association discovered it had an additional $65,000 after it received a letter last week from the state's Legislative Finance Committee. The letter stated the committee recommended a 15 percent cut in recurring Graduate Research Fund and requested an explanation of potential ramifications of the decision.
Such a letter would be considered a setback, but GPSA was not aware that the fund, which it thought was created two years ago as a one-time allocation, was actually a recurring line-item in UNM's budget. Further investigation by GPSA President Rachel Jenks yielded a $165,000 balance in the student government account, with monthly payments being credited by the state.
"This is very good news for GPSA and was just a really nice case of miscommunication," Jenks said during the GPSA Council meeting Saturday. "We are going to be meeting with upper administration to make sure something like this does not happen again because we did put a lot of time and energy toward preparing this as the focus of our lobby effort."
Ken Frandsen, interim dean of Graduate Studies, said he was surprised to learn the state was still funding the research program.
"We were in the dark as much as you were," Frandsen told the Council. "It was a complete shock, but a pleasant one. Now we just have to work to make sure that money stays there."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
As a result of the funding, GPSA has adjusted its lobbying effort. The group thought it had received $100,000 for the program and was going to request $300,000 this year to extend it, but now it is asking to keep the 15 percent the Legislative Finance Committee recommended cutting.
"We were setting a really tough goal with $300,000, but now that we know we are tied to a big state budget, the outlook is much better," said Jeff Primm, the graduate student government's lobby director. "We are in a very good position to walk away with money for graduate student research. It's great news."
GPSA's other chief lobby issue is to provide state funds to offset costs of graduate student childcare. It requested $50,000 and current bills reflect it is set to receive $25,000 for the program, which Primm also said was promising for a new program during a tight budget year.
But Primm tempered his enthusiasm by noting that the session had not ended and that the group could still face funding cuts.
"This is really good news, but it all is subject to the governor's veto pen, so graduate students really should be contacting their legislators about these issues if they want to see them pass," he said.
Primm also told the group that GPSA backed a memorial that passed in both the House and Senate declaring Jan. 28 "University of New Mexico Graduate and Professional Student Association Legislature Appreciation Day."
"I know it's a long title, but some of what was in the memorial that notes the contribution of graduate students in the state was really significant," he said.
During the same meeting, the Council approved transferring $4,500 from its endowment into the Student Research and Allocations Fund that a committee will distribute for research in addition to the $24,200 already in the account.
The deadline for most GPSA funding - including research grants - is Feb. 15. For more information, call 277-3803 or visit www.unm.edu/~gpsa.
