Texas Wesleyan University’s Student Government Association started the spring semester off with a bang (of a gavel, that is) on Monday by adding $4,000 to the travel abroad scholarship for the upcoming Costa Rica and Spain and Portugal trips.

SGA Vice President Zahraa Saheb, who is also the Travel Fund Committee Chair, sponsored this bill because, she said, the budgets for the Costa Rica and Spain and Portugal travel abroad trips were not finalized by the fall deadline set by SGA, preventing students interested in those trips from being able to apply for the scholarship.

“Those students were not able to apply, which was unfair, because it was not the students’ fault,” Saheb said on Monday.

According to Saheb, 20 students were awarded a total of $14,100 through the travel abroad scholarship last semester for the upcoming China, Russia, Scotland, and New Zealand trips.

SGA also voted to approve $850 for T-shirts and a DJ for homecoming.

SGA’s weekly business meetings have been moved from Thursdays at 4 p.m. to Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Student Government Chamber on the first floor of the Brown-Lupton Building next to the SUB, and all students are welcome to attend.

SGA encourages student attendance with their Participation Program, which grants scholarships to the organizations and individuals who attend the most meetings, according to txwes.edu.