Homecoming costs remain stable
The cost of Homecoming did not significantly increase in 2010, despite an increase in event programming.
The Homecoming Committee received funding from Student Life’s allocated budget to spend on Homecoming celebrations this year, and it spent between $12,000 and $15,000 on nine programs.
The number does not include the cost of Casino Night, which was a University Programming Board event. The event, as in previous years, cost $20,000.
Student Life has various areas of programming, one of which is Homecoming, said Assistant Student Life Director Katrina Woolery.
The working budget between $12,000 and $15,000 has remained stable throughout the years. This year was Woolery’s second in helping to coordinate the event alongside a student committee.
Woolery refused to provide a specific cost breakdown of each event.
Woolery stressed that the focus of Homecoming should not be on its costs, but on what the celebration means to the St. Edward’s University community.
“We met our goal in increasing attendance in all areas,” Woolery said.
The Homecoming Committee and Student Life also received close to $1,000 in donations from local businesses to help pay for some Homecoming costs, according to Woolery.
She added that the state of the economy had nothing to do with the businesses being able to donate to Homecoming celebrations.
“It is just something that they do to help us,” she said.
The donations helped to fund the prizes given out throughout the week of Homecoming. Several prizes came from the stores of businesses helping with the donations.
Woolery also said that the state of the economy was also not an issue in the Homecoming budget, and that it did not factor into the costs.
“Our mission is to serve students with programs to create a sense of community,” she said. “The economy does not affect us in this type of program.”
