The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee unanimously approved the Greater University Tutoring Service’s 2015-’16 budget at a meeting Monday.
GUTS provides UW-Madison students with free tutoring services to aid in academic subjects, study skills and conversational language, according to its website. Students, peer tutors and staff work together to improve personal and academic growth.
The $143,915.06 budget decreased from the current fiscal year budget $148,762.06, but the SSFC members said they had almost no concerns with the proposed budget.
GUTS proposed the smaller request because they returned approximately 17 percent of the previous budget. They also predicted future needs for the group based on planned expansions, according to previous reporting.
SSFC Secretary Brett Ducharme said everything was justified.
“After reading through the budget and analyzing it, this was a great application,” Ducharme said. “There was very clear emphasis on why there was differences in the budget between this year and last year. All was accounted for.”
SSFC also heard a budget presentation from Nicholas Fetzner, the project coordinator of Sex Out Loud.
Sex Out Loud is UW-Madison’s peer-to-peer sexual health resource center, which provides sexual education workshops, safer sex supplies and sexual counseling.
Fetzner said not all students feel comfortable visiting University Health Services to talk to health professionals, so they might prefer speaking to an educated peer.
“I think [sexual education] is a very important thing for people to know as they go through life, and it also keeps people healthy,” Fetzner said.
The sex ed workshops are very popular among students because they are tailorable and teach students about “third base or more” depending on the group. They also provide other programs such as Yoga for Better Sex and Condoms & Candy.
Sex Out Loud proposed a budget $99,989 for 2015-’16 that is an increase from the current budget of $98,032. The organization increased the budget because of an additional staff member.
SSFC will make a decision on Sex Out Loud’s budget this Thursday.
