On Sunday, Sept. 22, the Yale College Council Senate passed a nearly $930,000 budget for the 2024-25 academic year. The Student Activities Fee, a $125 segment of Yale’s undergraduate tuition, represents three-fourths of our annual revenues. The majority of our governing body’s budget, therefore, is entrusted to us by students. As such, the YCC is renewing its commitment to the utmost fiscal transparency. Today, I write to report the details of this year’s budget allocations — a multi-pronged strategy designed to maximize our budget for and on behalf of Yale’s undergraduate students.

The YCC’s $930,000 this year — subject to change pending Leaves of Absence and Withdrawals — is primarily allocated to two of the YCC’s most student-facing services: funding for undergraduate organizations and Spring Fling.

Last year, funding for undergraduate organizations was tight. Approximately 520 clubs requested a cumulative $1,141,000 from the YCC’s Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee, or UOFC. The UOFC was able to disburse $370,000.

This year, we are proud to announce that we have allocated $405,000 to undergraduate student organization funding, an unprecedented one-year increase of $35,000. This marks the second-largest student organization-specific fund the Yale undergraduate community has benefited from, surpassed only by a $410,000 UOFC budget in the 2022-23 academic year, the product of a pandemic-induced rollover of money. Given our improved focus on expanding outreach and financing clubs without other funding sources, we hope the additional funds will go even further this year in supporting the student organizations that define our campus culture. 

The Spring Fling Committee, for whom the undergraduate community is deeply grateful, has received an increase of $20,000, bringing their annual operating budget to $345,000. This expansion is inspired by a strategic reimagining of the role of the YCC’s Emergency Spending Fund, or ESF. Last year, the Senate voted to move $20,000 from the ESF to the Spring Fling Committee midway through the academic year. This year, we have opted instead to provide Spring Fling with the additional $20,000 upfront. We are optimistic that allocating money in full and from the outset will allow the Spring Fling Committee to operate with a more realistic budget and to secure lower prices with earlier planning. 

Including our $65,000 budget for events –– money allocated to the YCC Events Team for planning social events for undergraduate students during the school year –– $815,000, which is 88 percent of this year’s budget, is dedicated to student events and undergraduate organizations. In other words, we are spending $115,000 more than our approximately $700,000 Student Activities Fee revenues to directly support student activities. 

A further nine percent of our budget, including a $40,500 Emergency Spending Fund, will be at the discretion of the YCC Senate. In recent years, the Senate’s funding priorities have included targeted subsidies to support FGLI students with non-tuition expenses, from printing to transportation to extracurricular participation. 

Much of the remainder of the allocation will support the operations of the elected First-Year, Sophomore and Junior Class Councils and the YCC’s policy teams, groups of senators and senate delegates that lobby the University to implement policies addressing student concerns. Less than half of one percent of our allocation will directly support the YCC’s operations in areas beyond the above-mentioned capacities, such as communications and business expenses. 

The YCC, including the finance team of which I am a part, considers its responsibility to manage student funds with the utmost seriousness. This year’s budget reflects our underwriting of a culture of impact, fiscal responsibility, and prioritizing the student body’s needs. We have placed more resources into the areas that directly equalize and enhance student life, and we invite you to partner with us in pursuing accountability. We are committed to making every dollar count for you.

ADNAN BSEISU is a junior in Pauli Murray College and the chief financial officer of the Yale College Council for the 2024-25 school year. He can be reached at adnan.bseisu@yale.edu.