Thirty-eight new student organizations applied and nine lost funding in this year's Activity Fee Allocations, according to data released by the Student Finance Committee.

The just over $1.5 million AcFee fund is generated from the activity fee each student pays annually on a student account - this year's was $800 per student. Campus organizations are required to solicit funding each year through an application and interview process the committee uses to determine a group's level of fiscal responsibility along with its ability to benefit the entire Vanderbilt community.

This year, 127 organizations applied and 79 percent were granted funding. On average students received 81.48 percent the funding they requested and organizations on average had their funding increased 7.32 percent from last year.

A new application process was completely electronic and, according to the committee, allowed for more consistency among organizations' budgets.

Each student group elected to put itself in one of five categories - programming, arts, cultural, service and special interest. This year, programming groups received the most funding at $1,044,310, while service organizations received $64,756.19 in funding.

The Music Group, which plans Rites of Spring and other events but has a separate fund specifically for Homecoming, topped the list at $438,581.80 in funding.

"The money for the Music Group goes into the fund to get artists that students request," said AcFee Committee Chair Jessica Cohen, a junior. "If we cut their funding significantly it will be harder for them to attract these students. They also subsidize with ticket sales."

The committee also decided to open the contingency fund this year to all organizations, though it was originally just for new organizations, Cohen explained. In evaluating the year-old AcFee system, the group decided opening this budget to student petition for more funding would be helpful.

Already this year, three of the organizations whose applications where never received will have to apply for contingency funds.

"The contingency fund is still for new student organizations who develop in the middle of the year, but is also for organizations that decide that they want to put on an event in the middle of the year. We know it is a lot to ask of them to plan a budget a year in advance, especially with leadership turning over," Cohen said.

Among the organizations that were denied funding this year was McGill Hall, which rounded out the bottom of the list with no money allocated. According to Cohen, McGill was not given funding because they asked for more money than would be spent this year.

"The reason that McGill didn't get money was because they asked for money for capital," Cohen said. "AcFee does not fund items that will last for more than a year because students pay $800 for that year and they deserve to reap all of the benefits in that one year. McGill will get money for capital through housing."

The National Pan-Hellenic Council received funding under two categories, with houses receiving specific funding and the umbrella organization receiving funding under an NPHC-specific allocation and under a shared Greek allocation split among NPHC, Panhellenic and the Interfraternity Council. Additionally, Beta Chi Theta and Lambda Theta Pi received allocations as cultural organizations and IFC members.

"Organizations that fall under more than one category often do activities that are open to the entire campus," Cohen said. "Greek organizations like Panhellenic and IFC got money for events like Greek Week. You don't have to be Greek to go for it."

Cohen also explained the NPHC organizations, as well as Beta Chi Theta and Lambda Theta Pi, were "very much cultural," and therefore received separate funding.

Mock Trial and Model United Nations received the highest funding of the special interest division, with $14,000 and $24,150 in funding, respectively. Cohen said the high amount of travel allocations was given because of the organization's capacities for fundraising.

"We are not going to pay for all of a groups traveling. We will subsidize that a bit because anyone is allowed to join the organization. From there, they chose people that are the best suited to compete," Cohen said. "When we subsidize, we base the percentage on their efforts to fundraise. We want to be able to motivate them to continue to fundraise."

Cohen said the economy did not impact the decision making process because the funds were already collected over the summer. However, Cohen said she thought it may affect future efforts by groups to raise money themselves.

"A lot of time, the ways it would affect students is in the way things are self-funded. Some groups may have trouble fundraising," she said.