The Student Programming Association encourages students to become more involved in organizing campus activities.

Each student is charged $15 to provide funding for the SPA. With 5,695 student currently enrolled at Nicholls, it is estimated that $85,425 is collected from this fee. An additional $8.04 are collected from the Student Activities Fee, which is dispersed to seven different on-campus organizations. The Student Activities Fee brings in an additional $45,787.80 of SPA funds. In total, SPA collects about $131,212.80 in fees each semester.

“We want students to be involved in SPA. Technically, every fee-paying student is a member, but most people don’t realize. We want people to be involved because if you are on a committee then you have a say where your money is going. It benefits students to be involved because you have a say in what happens to the fees you are paying,” Taylor Degruise, SPA president, said.

This year, SPA has budgeted $204,364 for Fall 2014 to be divided between five committees. The Entertainment Committee gets $30,000 that goes mostly to events like Comedy Night and Alive at 5. The Multicultural Committee gets $5,000, and the Special Events Committee gets $8,000 for events like Family Day and Welcome Back Day. The Spirit and Travel Committee receives $10,000 for sponsoring events on campus, and at away games to boost school spirit. The Union Activity Committee is given $4,500 to host entertainment activities in The Donald G. Bollinger Memorial Student Union. There are special events that get their own budget. For example, Crawfish Day alone is expected to cost around $39,000.

Each year, the cost of holding Crawfish Day has increased significantly. In 2005, Crawfish Day cost $8,600, in 2006 the cost rose to $13,000. Crawfish Day 2013 cost about $16,000.

“I think people don’t realize how much Crawfish Day costs. Most of that goes toward the crawfish because crawfish is expensive,” Degruise explained.

Money from the budget is also used to pay for office expenses and advertising for different events. Each year, there is a reserve fee left over from the semester. This money is used to cover the cost of events from May until around September, when new funds are given to SPA.

Degruise stressed that SPA is a student-run organization, and students can have a say in how their money is spent. Each of the five committees meets once each week to discuss ideas for events. The committee head can then write a proposal, which is presented to the executive board for approval.

“We can only come up with so many ideas, but the more students that are involved, the more ideas we will have,” Degruise said.
There is currently one position open on the SPA Executive Board to fulfill the duty of committee head for the Special Events Committee. Applications are available in the SPA office, and Degruise encourages all students to apply. According to Degruise, being on the committee is a learning experience by giving “students on the board an opportunity to plan events, run events, hold meetings, and run advertisements.”

Degruise added, “The more involved you are, the more you get back from your student fees.”