UC Bill To Change Group Funding

Beginning next semester, student groups will have the option of receiving upfront funding from the Undergraduate Council (UC) to fund their events and projects, as a result of a report passed by the council at yesterday’s meeting.

To be eligible for upfront funding, a student group will have to apply for a grant at least 21 days before its event takes place. In addition, groups will not be allowed to change the dates of their events without submitting a new grant application. They will also be required to provide the UC with a collateral payment before receiving upfront funding.

Currently, grants are only awarded to student groups on a retroactive basis, forcing organizations to front the money for their events without aid from the UC.

All upfront grants will also be subject to audit after their event, and any group that does not return unused money to the UC could be made ineligible for UC funding for two academic semesters by a two-thirds vote of the Executive Board of the UC.

An additional piece of legislation passed by the council yesterday will also make it possible for student groups that have accounts with the Harvard University Employee Credit Union to have their UC grants awarded to them via direct deposit, rather than a physical check.

The report on upfront funding, authored by Finance Committee (FiCom) chair Lori M. Adelman ’08 and vice-chair Randall S. Sarafa ’09, was written using data from a survey sent out to 195 student groups on the subject of the UC grant process.

The survey, to which 70 student groups responded, found that over 80 percent of the groups that responded relied on UC funding for more than half of their events’ costs.

Of these 70 groups, exactly 50 percent reported having less than $1,000 accessible to them in their group’s bank account.

The survey also found that 70 percent of groups had to use a group member’s credit card to pay for expenses. Given this information, the report concluded that the retroactive grants process “perpetuates an inherent bias against those who are economically disadvantaged or less financially well off than their peers.”

The report also found that 90 percent of student groups felt that access to upfront funding was “somewhat” or “very important” to the success of their projects and events.

—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.