Over 30 more student organizations requested funding from the Executive Committee for the 2025-2026 academic year compared to the previous year—and the total amount of requested funds increased by more than $30,000, according to Executive Committee Vice President John Beekman Youngblood, ’27.
Last spring term, 14 new student organizations were recognized by the EC, Youngblood said.
“Every single year, more and more clubs are being formed,” EC President Meaghan Endres, ’26, said. “And every time the club is formed they generally ask for money, and so the pool is getting smaller because we are spreading it out across more organizations.”
For the 2025-2026 school year, a total of 95 student organizations requested a total of around $1,037,000 from the EC. The previous school year, 64 organizations requested a total of around $1,005,000.
Many organizations that are typically funded by an academic department requested funds from the EC due to cuts within each department, Endres said.
Last year, department heads were asked to cut discretionary expenditures for the 2025-2026 school year by 10% to address an expected deficiency in the university’s budget, according to previous Phi reporting.
“Every year, it’s clear that clubs are requesting more and more funds, whether it be new ideas for events that they have in mind, or new membership in general,” Youngblood said.
The EC’s projected budget fell by almost $90,000 this year.
The total EC projected budget for 2025 is around $734,000—a decrease from almost $825,000 total in 2024. Youngblood said the decrease is due to organizations using more funds than what they were allocated last year.
The increase in both funding requests and the amounts being requested means some clubs did not get the full amount they asked for in the spring, Endres said.
“It’s an unfortunate truth that if we get 20-something more clubs every year, everyone’s budget is probably going to get a little bit of a slice,” she said.
Grace Rustay, ’27, president of the Student Environmental Action League, says SEAL typically turns to the environmental studies department when they need more funding. But she said she’s worried that department funding won’t be able to cover the gap in EC funds.
“Because we are asking at such a tight time fiscally for all of these departments, we’re assuming the gifts or the grants they’re going to be able to give us will be less,” Rustay said.
For the 2025-2026 school year, each undergraduate paid an activities fee of $695, according to the university website. Only $335 of that amount goes to the EC. The EC then allocates the funds to student organizations, according to Steve McAllister, the vice president of finance and treasurer for Washington and Lee.
Student organizations can formally request funding for their club each spring term. Applicants submit budget requests to the EC and are then interviewed by the committee. The EC evaluates the club’s spending history, its membership and attendance at events when deciding how much money to allocate.
“You really can’t put a large sum of money in someone’s hands if you have no idea how they’re going to run their club at all,” Endres said.
The EC also allocates funds each year for the honor reserve and the committee’s operating budget. The EC uses the operating budget to fund items such as printing copies of the White Book every year and providing snacks during meetings.
The honor reserve is kept in case of an open hearing. Any unused funds roll over to the next year, Endres said.
“I made the decision during spring term to cut our honor reserve by $10,000,” she said. “We put that money back into the pool for clubs and organizations.”
The allocations for the 2025-2026 budget have not been posted on the university website.
Organizations can also request money in the fall during the emergency budget allocations period. Applications for the fall are due Oct. 21.
“We will most likely allocate the money, we just have to take into account that it is probably harder to give them the money they deserve,” Youngblood said. “Just because we are advised to give out most of the money in the spring.”
