FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – The deadline for re-registration of Registered Student Organizations (RSO) for the 2023-24 academic school year is April 17.
RSO’s are a way for students to get the opportunity to create, budget and plan their own events and meetings. They also provide students a chance to meet and work with other students who have common interests and goals.
The University currently is home to over 400 different RSO’s varying in many different categories. Assistant Director for Registered Student Organizations, Camille Jordan, says that these RSO’s can vary to meet many different students’ passions and hobbies.
“We have a little over 400 student organizations on campus ranging anything from cars to cooking to cultural pursuits and things of that nature. It’s a great way to get involved on campus and really create those memorable experiences outside of your academic pursuits.”
Jordan also says that joining an RSO can give students a much different college experience than if you do not decide to join one.
“You spend the 18 hours or however many hours you’re taking in college in the classroom, but what about all that time outside? Is it all spent playing Xbox or are you wanting to get that full and rich collegiate experience, and that’s how you do it with getting involved.”
To go through a list of all the different RSO on campus, students can head to the HogSync (link) page. And it will also give students contact information of the group so that they may get involved or ask questions.
Jordan says that if you can’t find an RSO that fits what you are looking for then you can start your own. She says you will need to go through a process and need to have the following:
“Going through the office of student activities process with signing those non discrimination clauses, you have to have six members or more, a President, a Treasurer, as well as an advisor for your organization.”
Once an RSO is approved and is officially active, they can apply for funding from the Office of Financial Affairs (OFA) and can get up to $12,500 annually for their organization.
Associated Student Government Treasurer and chairman for the Office of Financial Affairs Board, Grady Schmidt says funding can go to three different categories for RSO’s.
“A student organization that has applied and gotten registered through the University has an account on HogSync, and through Hogsync they can request the three different forms through OFA, and those three different forms are: conference and competition fees, event funding, as well as administrative funds.”
Conference and competition fees as Schmidt explains it, are for the entry fee in order for the RSO to attend their competition and conference.
For event funding he says it ranges from catering for an event from a direct catering company, or through an approved vendor from the university, as well as venue fees for hosting different events.
Administrative funds is a payment of $75 annually for office supplies that the RSO may need such as paper, pencil, notebooks and other supplies they may need.
With over 400 current RSO’s, the budget for OFA is pretty large, but Schmidt says they struggle to get every RSO to apply for funding.
“That’s one of our biggest challenges we face because we have a quarter of a million dollars to spend just on student organizations from the student activity fee, but it is so difficult to spend all that money without the RSO’s on campus knowing.”
He says many RSO’s don’t know the process to apply for funding or request money from the OFA.
“Outreach is a huge thing that we try to do and force a lot, but it is so difficult to reach out to every single student organization on campus, let alone even if they are on the RSO newsletter. If they don’t read their email, they will not know what OFA is.”
RSO’s can apply for funding for one of the three forms; conference and competition fees, event funding, as well as administrative funds on their HogSync account.
Re-registration for the 2023-24 academic school year is open now through Monday, April 17, and RSO’s are available for all students to join year round and the list of all them can be found on Hogsync.uark.edu.