Each semester, undergraduate students pay between $6 and $12 per credit towards “Student Association and Activities fees,” along with the other administrative registration fees. If you’re a full-time Arts and Science student, then you’ve paid nearly $100 in activities fees for both fall and winter semesters. Halfway through their yearly mandate, the CSU voted on their revised budget on Monday night. Here’s what the CSU plans to do with your precious pennies:
Numbers (in brackets) are expenses projected in the June budget.
Total Revenue $1,680,500
($1,693,000)
Student Fees $945,000
($935,000)
Total Expenses $1,679,851
(1,679,851)
Executive Salaries $137,965
($166,224)
Orientation $178,050
($178,050)
Legal Fees $60,000
($30,000)
Admin Salaries $126,374
($118,549)
Bad Debt $25,000
($25,000)
Speaker’s Fund $30,000
(20,000)
Student Life Initiative $45,000
($45,000)
Clubs $135,000
($145,000)
Clubs Special Projects $22,000
($22,000)
Save the Mezz $5,000
($0)
Food Fund $5,000
New Initiatives $10,500
($5,000)
The Speaker’s Fund went up by $10,000 from their proposed budget in June because the CSU is contributing towards bringing speakers Al Gore and David Suzuki in the winter semester. The cost of the event is estimated at $20,000 and is still up for negotiation.
“Our biggest loss was the Mackay Street Festival that got cancelled,” said CSU President Khaleed Juma, of September’s Orientation Week.
The Mackay Street Festival was to have been the main source of revenue to recoup the costs of Orientation, but the CSU cancelled the festival out of respect after the Dawson College shooting incident. Contracts were already signed though and needed to be paid anyway.
Nonetheless, VP Finance Saleena Hussein is optimistic. She said that she had underestimated what Orientation would bring in, so the lost revenue wasn’t that significant. The New Student Program, funded by the university, will cover $43,000 of the total cost of Orientation.
“We can’t ask for all that money to come from only the students,” said Hussein.
Another big jump is the CSU’s legal fees, which doubled since they first got elected. And no, ex-executive Taylor Noakes is not pursuing them in court. It’s the never-been-done-before Comprehensive Student Space Agreement that has required expensive lawyers. The CSU’s negotiations with the administration over student space is the first of its kind and Juma insisted it needed careful planning.
The “Save the Mezz Campaign” was also added to the budget. It was instigated at the beginning of the school year when the administration announced it was moving ahead with previously unheard-of plans to bolt lounge chairs to the floor of the Hall building’s mezzanine.
Also, the CSU decided to increase the amount allocated for “Clubs Special Projects” and decrease funds for Clubs by $10,000.
“Sometime you allocate money to a club and they don’t use it. This way, under a special project account, you know where it goes,” said Hussein. She said that Clubs can apply for additional funding in order to develop a specific project. They hope it will increase transparency and accountability with regard to student money.
A new collective agreement signed last week changed their November budget. Receptionists’ salaries and Administration salaries went up by approximately $15,000. And, with two executive positions vacant, VP Logistics and VP Campus Relations, the budget for executive salaries dropped by $30,000.
The CSU’s $25,000 Bad Debt takes into account unpredictable losses such as students dropping out of classes.
“You get money up-front, and then they [the administration] take it back,” said Hussein.
According to Hussein, the CSU receives 70 per cent of the Activities fees paid by students upon registration. But, as students drop classes, the administration retrieves the funds.
