Lloyd Shisler
Staff Writer

Student Services and Activities Budget [S and A] is a budget that supports and funds Pierce programs such as athletics, tutoring, theater, pioneer, writers studio, music program and many more.

Cameron Cox, director for student life, mentioned that Pierce’s tuition was raised last year at 12 percent. Instead of the S and A committee voting and deliberating on how much the budget should be, they decided to raise the percentage budget to 12 percent.

The S and A committee usually votes on budgets for most programs such as arts, newspapers, and student life.  If a program needs a specific resource, then those in charge apply to the school for the approval of money from the budget to be spent on that programs request.

Cox said, “Students on the committee did a great job on the budget.” The committee was able to support all the requested programs.

Duncan Stevenson, director for the athletics program, said there’s a lot of things that this budget will affect positively for the sports programs. This extra money will increase how much the coaches will get paid, help with the team’s travel expenses, pay for basic catastrophe insurance for athletes who hurt themselves in sports related injuries, pay staff that help run the games such as; certified officials that are contracted, game management staff, and athletic training services staff that have certified medical knowledge to support games.

Stevenson said that the budget covers all six sports’ operating budgets.  He was excited and appreciative that the S and A budget is able to support the programs here at Pierce.

The athletic program has been trying to bring women’s soccer to Pierce for 15 years. The college applied twice within the 15 years and was rejected both times, while this time the budget allowed for a women’s soccer team.

The student government went to Stevenson to inquire about the process of adding a new team. Between them, they were able to put together the application to apply for a new sports program. After looking at the budget, they both were confident that the Board of Trustees would approve the team.

If the women’s soccer team gets approved for this fall, the team will get a budget of 28,135 dollars. The budget will start giving out 10,718 dollars towards a new program for athletic scholarships. The athletic program received 15,151 dollars more than last year’s budget.

“On behalf of the student-athletes and coaches of Raider Athletics, we are very grateful for the funding provided by the S&A committees from both campuses to support the teams for next year.  Our program would not exist if weren’t for the funding from the student’s S&A budget.  We are very excited to finally have the opportunity to bring women’s soccer to Pierce College.  It will be a great addition to our program offerings,” said Stevenson.