The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recently concluded a yearlong effort to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the student-paid activity fee.
Each spring, the Allocations Board (ALBO) dispenses approximately $900,000 to a myriad of Tufts' student organizations, ranging from the backgammon club to Lecture Series. Work on this budget began when every club on campus submitted a financial proposal for the 2005-2006 academic year.
In any given year, approximately 4,650 undergraduates pay the activity fee with only those studying abroad exempt. The income from this fee amounts to approximately $1.1 million.
Of this total, $200,000 is deducted immediately. Every year, the TCU Senate provides the Mountain Club with $10,000 to help pay back the cost of the University's mountain lodge, "The Loj," in New Hampshire. Club sports receive funding from the initial $200,000 and another percentage is set aside for new groups, capital expenditure, and "buffer funding" for unforeseen expenses.
The remaining $900,000 is left to budget for the rest of the student organizations on campus.
Any group recognized by Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) can apply for funding. This year, Tufts' organizations requested approximately $1.2 million, forcing ALBO to cut over $200,000 from the original budget plans.
ALBO is divided into nine different councils that are responsible for assessing the needs of different groups on campus. Each of these councils has its own chair responsible for examining the finances of groups in a specific designation. These designations include culture groups, media groups, religious groups, performance and arts groups, and councils on community service and TCU government, to name a few.
"It makes it easier to determine needs when there is a kind of uniformity," TCU Treasurer junior Jeff Katzin said. "The council chair can see what programs in the past have been effective."
According to Katzin, a number of factors affect how much money is allocated to each group.
"Events that are all-encompassing and benefit a large amount of individuals get more money," Katzin said. The ALBO also examines how fiscally responsible a group was in the past.
As TCU Treasurer, Katzin said he must review all budget requests.
"I look at all groups and all councils and what [their budgets] come in at," he said. "It is up to the council chair to work with the groups individually."
Council chairs are supposed to meet with each group in their designation three times in a three-week period.
When it comes to putting a budget together, some new clubs find the process daunting. Treasurer of The Elysium - a creative writing club - sophomore Rachel Ombres said that she did not meet with anyone from the TCU Senate when making a fiscal plan for 2005-2006.
"I feel like because we were a new club, and because none of us had done this before ... we were really kind of lost," she said. "After the budget was approved, we got training about how to manage the budget and where to turn in receipts, but where I felt the training was lacking was in the preparation for the budget."
Once a student group is given their budget for the year, the TCU Senate does not simply write out a check. Rather, every time the organization spends money on an activity, they submit a request to ALBO for funding. ALBO looks at how much money is in the group's budget, how much they want for the event, and then plans accordingly. After ALBO makes their recommendation for spending, the TCU Senate votes to approve or to change that amount.
"This year, I think we did a good job weighing the types of activities and events," Katzin said. "One of the more difficult things was Winter Bash. It's an expensive event, around $25,000, but hopefully it will be a good tradition that will continue into the future."
Katzin also said that in the 2004-2005 year, there were "a lot of organizations that did cross-programming. That is the exact type of ... event we are looking for, something that facilitates community."
Also of note to this fiscal year at Tufts included mini-grants given for alcohol-free events and a focus on investing money over the summer. Katzin and Associate TCU Treasurer freshman Harish Perkari said they agreed that a dominant theme when working with this year's budget was "getting as much money flowing in as possible."
"It is better to have students making these [budgeting] decisions than to have administrators doing them," Perkari said, and that students are more aware of the needs of campus organizations.
"A lot of schools do have the treasury run by students, but the breadth and differential among organizations is unique to Tufts," Katzin said.
