The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate allocated a larger sum of money to student groups this fiscal year than it has in any previous year, according to a report issued by TCU Treasurer Evan Dreifuss last month.
The Senate's Allocations Board budgeted over a million dollars for the second year in a row as they gave $1,035,000 to 134 different student organizations this year, the State of the Treasury report said. This topped last year's then-record sum of $1,015,000 in allocations, according to Dreifuss.
He attributed the increase in total allocations to two factors: first, the increasing number of student TCU organizations on campus. "More and more groups are being recognized and applying for funding," he said.
This year, 28 new groups received funding after being recognized by the TCU Judiciary.
Dreifuss also cited the increase in the Student Activities Fee as a reason that the Senate was able to allocate more money. The fee, which all students have to pay, increased from $248 last year to $258 this year.
According to Dreifuss, the fee is adjusted by the university every year to keep pace with inflation.
About $1.3 million entered the Treasury at the beginning of this year from the Student Activities Fee. This means that about 79.6 percent of the money raised by the fee was budgeted to groups on campus.
The additional funds always go to miscellaneous costs, such as mortgage paymets on the Loj, the New Hampshire retreat that Tufts owns, and the organization of club sports and other on-campus programming. Some goes to buffer funding for student organizations or additional money beyond their initial budgets.
The money that is allocated to groups but not spent goes to the Treasury's surplus. At the beginning of this year, the surplus was $71,661, none of which was spent during the school year.
Dreifuss believes this money should be allowed to accumulate, as it did this year, unless a situation arises where it is necessary to spend it. "I would like to have [the surplus] grow a little bit, but, at the same time, if we find needs for the money, we should definitely use it," he said.
According to Dreifuss, the Senate will not know what the surplus is after this year until August.
The Senate also invests a portion of the Treasury each year. This year's investments yielded a greater profit than any year prior, according to the State of the Treasury report.
Earlier this year, $500,000 went into a six-month Certificate of Deposit. Due to favorable market conditions, the Treasury had a net gain of $8,792.
Previously, the TCU's greatest yield from a single investment was $6,983, which came from an 11-month Certificate of Deposit from last year, according to Dreifuss.
Although content with the Senate's allocations this year, sophomore and incoming TCU president Neil DiBiase believes the budgeting process can be made more efficient by educating both the student groups on campus and the senators themselves on exactly how the system works.
"First of all, I think groups need to understand Treasury procedure and the whole budgeting process better." DiBiase said. "[Also,] I think Allocations Board chairs and the entire Senate need to understand groups better."
Without this understanding, DiBiase believes that student organizations are at risk of not receiving satisfactory budgets because the Senate tends to homogenize the needs of groups for the sake of efficiency.
"This is kind of philosophical, but I think a lot of times we make groups fit one organizational model," DiBiase said.
