The College Republicans are working to salvage their annual trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference, after Student Federation approved only 80 percent of the funds needed to finance the trip.
Hillsdale College’s chapter of College Republicans asked Student Fed for $5,000 during the body’s Feb. 2 meeting, planning to take 55 students to CPAC in Washington, D.C., from Feb. 22-25. But Student Fed approved 8-5 only $4,000 for the trip, throwing the College Republicans into a panic over the $1,000 deficit.
“This is a $19,749 trip,” College Republicans acting President junior Madeline Domalakes told Student Fed. “We cannot do this without you. That’s just the bottom line.”
College Republican officers said Tuesday that they were optimistic the trip would still happen but did not provide a statement.
According to the College Republicans’ proposal to Student Fed, each person going on the trip would have to pay $218 to attend. But when College Republicans officers obtained a 10 percent discount on the students’ ticket fees, they reduced the cost of attendance to $205 to make it more manageable for students, Domalakes said. But some Student Fed representatives argued that if the original ticket price stood, the group could get by with only $4,000.
“That $13 decrease probably amounts to about $1,000 in cost,” Student Fed Junior Rep. Brendan Noble said to the College Republicans officers. “You’re passing that cost onto Student Fed.”
The College Republicans have fundraised for months, College Republicans Director of Events junior Peyton Bowen said, but many of its usual sponsors have been unable to help this year.
“We have tried to reach out in many, many other ways,” she said. “We had all of our board members write letters to their congressmen. We reached out to an independent law firm that offered to help us raise a little bit of money.”
Last year, the group requested $7,000 from Student Fed, which funded it in full. The amount participants have paid to attend has increased over recent years. Each person paid only $50 in 2015, while last year the trip cost $135. This year, the price is $218, after Student Fed partially approved the club’s request.
The College Republicans decreased the number of students they are taking, as well. While 165 students attended the trip last year, the the group can only afford to take 55 this year.
Student Fed representatives said the lower attendance factored into their decision to approve less money, as the reduced attendance increases the cost per person from $42 last year to $92 this year.
“I believe that the cost per student is an issue,” Student Fed Freshman Rep. Matthew Montgomery said. “Last year, when they brought 165 people for $7,000, that was impressive and actually a pretty good cost. But I believe that bringing 55 people in one coach bus for $5,000 is a bit too much to put on the Student Federation’s shoulders.”
Student Fed encouraged the club to increase the price of attendance to the original $218 per person, generating an additional $715 toward the trip and reducing the cost per student to $73.
Members of Student Fed expressed their support for the CPAC trip, despite their decision not to grant it the full amount requested.
“I’m very impressed by the amount of work you guys have put in for this, and I think that we definitely need to make sure that these guys go to CPAC,” Noble said. “But I think we need to make sure that the extra costs are not put on S.F.’s shoulders.”