ASUO started this academic year with a surplus of funds in the amount of $2.2 million. The surplus of cash is the most in UO history. While some of that money has already been approved to go to different student clubs and organizations as well as events for all students, there still remains $1.7 million in surplus up for grabs.
The surplus funds can be requested by any student club or organization recognized by ASUO and new ones not yet recognized. A surplus is the amount of money that remains once all requirements have been paid for a budget year. One large reason for the record amount of surplus money ASUO sees today is COVID-19.
“What we saw during the pandemic is that a lot of student organizations didn’t use their funding because they weren’t putting on events and they couldn’t put on events,” ASUO President Chloe Webster said.
The lack of programming allowed for a copious amount of funds to head into the ASUO’s surplus budget. “That spiked the surplus and we’ve had issues getting it down ever since then,” Webster said. “Having a surplus this large is very unusual.”
Webster, who was a senator with ASUO last year, said a surplus this high means that ASUO has been “fiscally irresponsible.”
“Just like all the money we deal with, the surplus is student money and we want to use it responsibly to help benefit the students here,” ASUO Vice President Finn Jacobson said.
The point of the Incidental Fee, which is the fee that all students are required to pay and is the fee that is funneled into ASUO’s budget, is to go toward events and programming during the years students attend UO. With little to no programming during the 2020-21 academic year, many students have missed out on seeing their dollars used while on campus, likely being used for students in future years instead. For the class of 2024, whose first year was marred by COVID-19, this year marks their last chance to see that money go into events they can potentially benefit from.
“A lot of students who weren’t able to see the funds that they used to go towards surplus, so we need to spend as much as possible. We have a lot of different ideas around spending but we’re really also trying to get student input as well,” Webster said.
Last year, ASUO used some of those surplus dollars to fund the Downpour concert, which was headlined by Aminé. That event used $252,000 in surplus funds. A similar event has already been approved again this year. The concert this year will have two headline acts and be held at Cuthbert Amphitheater. It will have a budget of $350,000.
The Downpour concert was the first of what Jacobson and ASUO hopes will become an annual tradition at UO. “The concert was successful in that it brought in students from all around campus,” Jacobson said. “Making the concert a sustainable annual event would be ideal.”
ASUO wants to do more than just put on large concerts for students. The goal is to have many clubs and organizations use the money on events and programming that have substance and a lasting impact on UO students.
“We want to hear from students to see what they want to see on campus,” Jacobson said.
Yanling Joslin is a third-year student and a UO senator on the Program Finance Committee. They want students at UO to have more input about how ASUO spends money. “We look at our mission, we are committed to distributing the funds equitably,” Joslin said. “We want students to be seeing things that they want on campus. Whether that’s through departments we finance or through contracts with companies like Lyft or PeaceHealth Bikes and working with student organizations.”
So far, many of the requests have been fairly expected. “The most common requests are for merchandise, shirts, jackets [and] sweaters for clubs. The second most would be for travel, going to conferences or big events,” Joslin said.
Putting on events that benefit the students of UO is the main mission ASUO has for using these funds.
“The Bollywood Ball, put on by the South Asian Cultural Alliance, was a great use of surplus funds last year,” Joslin said. “The SACA requested about $10,000 for that event. Those are the types of community events we’d like to see more of this year.”
ASUO is hoping that the requests for funds this year will be aimed at having an impact on as many students as possible. “We want to really encourage student organizations to utilize this resource. Even organizations that may not be recognized by ASUO yet can work with an ASUO executive through our co-sponsorship program,” Webster said.
“We’re telling groups and organizations that this is the year of dreams,” Jacobson said. “The goal is always to have the biggest impact possible on the students here and this rare opportunity of having a large surplus to take advantage of will help make that impact even larger.”
