Allocating $2.9 Million

As Executive Vice President of the SGA, Victor Kiani sat on the committee that allocated Queensborough's student technology budget for the first full academic year after the shutdown: $2,926,843, accountable to roughly fifteen thousand students.

It was the first full year after March 2020, with students and faculty still working remotely, and the technology fee was one of the few levers that could actually reach them: laptops, broadband, licensed software, assistive technology. Getting the allocation right was the difference between students who could keep up and students who couldn't.

The budget came together from two parts: roughly $1.96M in anticipated fee collections, projected against an expected 15% enrollment decline, plus about $966K rolled forward from the prior year, when procurement had been frozen during the pandemic pause. Part of the committee's work was making sure that frozen money actually reached students instead of quietly disappearing.

Where it went

The plan was submitted to CUNY in June 2021. A budget is a statement of priorities, and the line items that matter most are the quiet ones that keep people from falling behind.