Editor’s note: this story was updated on Oct. 12 to clarify that the I-Fee no longer includes a fee for the EMU.
When people stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Oregon campus became a ghost town. Events were canceled, buses were emptied, bikes sat unused and Incidental Fee funded programs began to return their money.
The Incidental Fee, or I-Fee, is a yearly fee each UO student pays to the university, and it is the responsibility of ASUO to manage that money. The I-Fee is spent by ASUO, distributed to student organizations and university departments or spent on contracts with companies outside of the university.
When contracts are canceled or organizations and departments don’t use their money — like during the COVID-19 pandemic — it is returned to ASUO. This money is called surplus.
At the beginning of this financial year in July, the surplus fund held nearly $1.8 million, according to ASUO Senate President Irisa Mehta. ASUO student senate continued to grant surplus funding over the summer. Now, ASUO has almost $1.1 million in surplus to start the school year, Mehta said.
ASUO President Luda Isakharov’s administration plans to “bring it back to a sustainable level” — $300,000 to $500,000 — by spending it, ASUO executive finance director Brad Morin said.
The administration’s goal is to spend this large sum of money on events and memorable experiences for students.
“COVID is the reason we have so much money in surplus, and that’s a reflection of a lot of missed events and programs that students missed,” Isakharov said. “We want to be intentional, reinvesting that money in things that the whole student body can enjoy.”
The first measurable step was the approval of a surplus request for $250,000 by the ASUO executive branch at the ASUO senate meeting on Oct. 5. The funds will be used to host what the executive branch refers to as a “headliner event” at Matthew Knight Arena, featuring a musician who has yet to be decided.
Additionally, the ASUO executive branch proposed that all revenue from the concert be put into the ASUO event fund intended for concerts. According to the ASUO executive branch the fund will reduce reliance on surplus for these kinds of events.
Some of the surplus could be used to make up for a financial deficit of roughly $240,000 according to Mehta. This deficit is due to under-realization, an ASUO term meaning that UO’s projection of I-Fee revenue was overestimated. This has happened for the past two years, and that deficit was covered by surplus funds last year.
Another ASUO fund that could conceivably cover the entire deficit is the prudent reserve, which is a safety net for ASUO.
Currently, the prudent reserve is $800,000, which met the fund’s minimum requirement when ASUO still controlled the Erb Memorial Union according to Morin. Now that the EMU isn’t included in its budget, the prudent reserve minimum requirement is $400,000.
ASUO will decide how the deficit will be covered during the senate meeting on Wednesday, Mehta said.
ASUO is also responsible for managing and spending this year’s I-Fee. While this year’s I-Fee revenue is unknown as students will come and go, it was more than $18.2 million during the 2019-2020 financial year, according to the ASUO I-Fee budget book.
The budget is now smaller after the EMU was dropped from the I-Fee fund. The portion of the I-Fee that once paid for the EMU is now a separate charge called the “Union Fee.”
The I-Fee paid by students is now smaller but will likely grow by 3-5% each year, according to Isakharov. Despite the current surplus, this yearly increase is expected to continue.
One goal for the 2022-23 academic year outside of surplus is to improve student transportation. The ASUO Contracts Finance Committee has entered negotiations with Cascadia Mobility — the operations company for PeaceHealth Rides — in hopes of preserving student accessibility to bike share.
In February 2023, ASUO will ratify budgets for student organizations, departments, contracts and its own operation. Between now and then, they are responsible for deciding exactly what those budgets should be.
Outside of more material plans, general financial priorities have yet to be agreed upon ASUO-wide. But priorities set by the ASUO programs finance committee, the ASUO student senate and the ASUO executive branch emphasize on funding student events that will have a large-scale impact.
