UC Will Finish Year With $10K

The Undergraduate Council is closing the 2007-2008 school year with an unprecedented $10,000 surplus, UC Treasurer Anthony R. Britt ’10 announced on Sunday.

The UC will use the surplus, left over after the final batch of grants, to fund any remaining grants for the year. The remaining money will be rolled over to next year’s budget.

Two years ago, grants that came at the end of the year were cut by 45 percent; groups that would have received full funding earlier in the year only received about half of what they requested. Last year the cut was about 12 percent.

The UC, which draws the majority of its revenue from a $75 per student activities fee, received $40,084.81 more through termbill this year, due partially to a six percent decrease in the number of students opting out of the fee. After increased allocations to House Committees (HoCos)—instituted after the party grant system was dissolved—the additionally money for the grants fund ended up being around $28,000.

Although Britt said the surplus only amounts to two percent of the UC’s annual allocable budget of $467,462.22, he said the surplus was a sign of better management of the UC’s budget.

“Essentially we were able to stretch the budget a little better than last year,” Britt said.

According to Britt, this year, the UC funded $343,643.54 out of $542,141.20 requested. Last year the UC funded $293,943.70 of $477,970.95.

Finance Committee (FiCom) Chair Andrea R. Flores ’10 said the extra money should not be attributed solely to the dissolution of the party fund or to an overall budgetary increase for the UC. Because the UC gave HoCos over $12,000 of the $17,000 that would have gone to party grants in past semesters, less than half of the surplus is rollover from party grants.

Flores also said the surplus was not due to funding cuts.

“We’re funding more on a weekly basis,” Flores said, adding that FiCom has been more consistent with its funding policies this year.

Britt said the UC will still conduct its annual review of funding practices.

—Staff writer Chelsea L. Shover can be reached at clshover@fas.harvard.edu.