The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate on Oct. 16 voted to allocate $450,000 of its surplus funds towards buffer funding, surplus grants and event grants in an effort to put money back in the hands of students.
The Senate, which currently has over $500,000 in surplus funds, plans to allocate $50,000 of this money to buffer funding, $200,000 toward surplus grants and $200,000 toward event grants, according to TCU Senate Treasurer Christie Maciejewski, a sophomore. The Senate will maintain the rest of the surplus.
Surplus grants will be distributed to students who propose large−scale campus projects, according to TCU Senate Associate Treasurer ArdArdalan. Non−TCU−recognized student groups can apply for the grants as well.
"The surplus grants will be capital improvements — things that will affect the entire campus on a lasting basis," Ardalan, a junior, said.
Groups seeking surplus grants may request a maximum of $100,000. Last year, surplus grants provided funding to groups such as Tufts Bikes to implement its bike−share program and the Leonard Carmichael Society to purchase a new club van.
This marks the first year that the Senate has offered event grants, designed to encourage groups to host more programmed activities for the community, according to Maciejewski. The new event grants program will offer funds to TCU−recognized groups when the Senate has over $500,000 of surplus.
"I'm hoping the event grant will get more students to come to events and get really excited for them," Maciejewski said.
Event grant disbursements are expected to be roughly 20 percent of a group's annual budget, though the Senate may decide to grant more or less money to groups on a case−by−case basis, according to Maciejewski.
The $50,000 allocated for buffer funding will be combined with the $50,000 of leftover buffer funding from last year, making a total of $100,000 available for groups seeking buffer funds, according to Ardalan.
Buffer funding is available for student groups to access at any point during the year to cover the cost of unforeseen expenditures, according to Senator YuliaKorovikov, a member of the Allocations Board (ALBO).
"Buffer funding is dealt with every single week," Korovikov, a junior, said.
"Groups come in and request unforeseen expenses or new groups will come in … and explain why they need whatever funds they need."
Applications for the surplus grant are due Nov. 18, according to Maciejewski. The event grant application process will take place in two stages: The first round of applications is due Nov. 11 and the second round will be due Feb. 3.
ALBO will review all applications and then present the proposals to the entire Senate body, which will vote on which projects to fund, according to Korovikov.
It is unusual for the Senate to have this large of a surplus, according to Maciejewski.
"It's been growing so we're trying to knock it down a bit," she said.
The surplus was created by unused money from the Student Activities Fee, a cost included in students' tuition and designed to fund the budgets for student groups.
It is important that this extra money be used to benefit current students, Maciejewski said.
"The view of the Treasury is that the Student Activities Fee is paid by every student," she said. "The students pay it, so the students who paid it should benefit from it."
Korovikov encourages anyone interested to apply for a grant.
"We are absolutely looking for everyone with an idea to apply, because the more ideas we get, the more likely we are to get some great ones," Korovikov said.
