For the past few weeks, there has been much speculation concerning the $200,000 surplus in the Rensselaer Union budget. According to President of the Union Peter Baldwin, the surplus comes from a variety of different factors and is actually around $130,000, significantly less than the original $200,000 estimate.
Baldwin said that the surplus is the result of a plethora of factors including revenue from the student activity fee, support of the Union-funded clubs and organizations, and the many other expenses and income sources of the Union.
Each year, every RPI student pays an activity fee. This year’s fee was $455. This is the fee that funds the Rensselaer Union, which is financially independent from the rest of the Institute. Thus, the revenue of the Union is based on and varies with these fees. As the number of students increase and decrease, the effect is felt in the Union budget. For instance, last year there were about 1,350 incoming freshmen. This year, there were only 1,113. This makes an approximately $107,000 difference. Additionally, the Union has many expenses, such as the expansion and renovation it underwent a few years ago via loaned funds from RPI (which are still being repaid), the Postal Substation (which is still losing money), and the RPI Bookstore.
There are also about 130 clubs funded by the Union. According to Baldwin, even though this year’s freshman class is smaller than most, its members seem to be very active. Clubs also present the Executive Board with the tricky challenge of dynamic budget re-allocation, that is, giving needed money to clubs during the year while minimizing the red tape involved. The Union maintains a contingency of about $20,000 to this end, which is provided by past surplus funds, a portion of activity fee funds, and unspent club funds from previous years.
According to Baldwin, “each E-Board member has a number of clubs they are responsible for budgeting.” Clubs are encouraged to be active, as they will have access to funds that less active or inactive clubs have had allocated to them, but never made use of.
Baldwin said, “The digitization of club budgets has made this tremendously easier.” Club officers can now access their budgets and request changes almost immediately, while the E-Board is freed from the drudgery of budgeting nearly $8.5 million with paper and pencil in hand.
As for uses for this admittedly small surplus, when compared to the size of the entire Union budget, Baldwin did not foresee any extraordinary or new use for the funds. He said that they will simply go to lessening Union expenses and possibly to increasing the budget allocation to the larger, more active clubs that may be in need of additional funding from the Union as the academic year progresses.
