This year $18,767,633 was requested in student fees which on July 1 were deposited into UCSU’s General Fund.
According to its minutes, CU’s Student Union Finance Board also recommended $482,661 in earmarks that were requested by various cost centers-facilities on campus which operate off of student funds.
The Finance Board is responsible for ensuring that all cost centers are sufficiently funded and financially stable and makes funding recommendations to the UCSU Legislative Council. It approved the earmarks during meetings on Sept. 15, Sept. 22 and Sept. 29.
The earmarks are to be taken from funds left in the cost center’s balances from the fiscal year of 2008 to 2009. To send students savings, the cost centers are expected to spend all funds that they are allocated and if they project profits, their allocations are decreased by the amount of the projections. Any surplus in a cost center’s yearly operating budget will accumulate in its fund balance, 70 percent of which most cost centers may request earmarks from.
Cost centers are not allowed to reallocate any funds, extra or budgeted, greater than $500 without Finance Board approval.
Wardenburg requested $365,300 of the earmarks, most of which was allocated to build up capital reserve for long-term facility needs. Along with the Rec Center and the UMC, Wardenburg is one of the three biggest cost centers at CU. Together they usually receive over a third of UCSU’s budget.
The other cost centers include the Environmental Center, the Student Organizations Finance Office, the Women’s Resource Center, Off-Campus Student Services, Student Legal Services, the Cultural Events Board, the Volunteer Clearing House, KVCU Radio 1190 and the Student Outreach & Retention Center for Equity.
The money approved to Wardenburg will go to various demands, ranging from a plant fund transfer to cost $150,000, to salary adjustments for $57,000. There will be a lighting upgrade at $18,000 and even the hiring of an H1N1 phone triage nurse for $8,600.
Illona Goldstein, an 18-year-old freshman business major, said it’s surprising how much money the cost centers require.
“(Wardenburg) really needs $18,000 to fix some lights? That seems excessive for such a small issue,” Goldstein said, before adding that she did not know much about lighting and architecture. “Still, that’s a lot of money.”
Wardenburg Health Center ended the last fiscal year with $419,316 in net income. The UMC, the Rec Center and the Cultural Events Board had a profitable year as well, ending with $143,590, $348,432 and $6,084 in revenue, respectively.
Several new projects were also approved, such as a 1-acre garden plot, with crops to be grown organically and sold to CU dining and catering facilities. The project was earmarked $120,000 but approval has not yet been received from the vice chancellor.
Sustainable CU allotted $109,000 of its own funding to this project.
A pilot energy program was also created to take place in campus laboratories and was given $1,084. Goals of the program include reducing 30 percent of CU’s energy costs from labs.
Dan Omasta, sustainability director for UCSU, said the sustainable policies are important.
“CU will be one of the few university systems in the country to establish a formal sustainability policy,” Omasta said. “This is an effort to not only promote sustainability and the environment, but save money in times of budget shortfalls and reduce our burden on traditionally underrepresented communities.”
The Student Organizations Finance Office, for instance, ended the year with a balance of $78,000, with no specific plans for spending the surplus, so fees should not need to be increased.
Molly Williams, an 18-year-old freshman dance major, said she’s unclear as to why some centers even require funding.
“If the UMC is making money, finishing the year off in the positives, then why do they still get money for things? It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Williams said. “They get annual funding and earmarks… Maybe student fees could be cut down.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Adrian Kun at Adrian.kun@colorado.edu.
