USAC votes to change surplus distribution formula, invest in endowment
USAC members voted on how to spend this year’s surplus in a meeting Tuesday night. (Jintak Han/Daily Bruin)
By Catherine Liberty Feliciano
Jan. 14, 2015 12:09 p.m.
The undergraduate student government unanimously voted Tuesday night to invest $10,000 of its surplus funds into its endowment and to change the formula by which surplus funding is distributed across funds that support student group programming.
The Undergraduate Students Association Council did not allocate any money to council initiatives and no councilmembers asked for funding at the meeting.
Funds left unused by the prior government are designated as surplus and repurposed by the current council. Surplus totaled about $103,000 this year, the lowest it has been after several years of decline.
USAC created the endowment with $100,000 of surplus funds in 2013, after council allocated $150,000 to different funds and distributed money to other initiatives. The UCLA Foundation runs the endowment, which has a 5 percent return each year.
Councilmembers chose to invest the money into the fund because they said they think it provides a more stable source of funds, especially after fluctuating surpluses have caused controversy among student groups. This was the first time since USAC created the endowment that a council put more money into it.
The purchasing power of funds after 20 years of accumulating interest would far outweigh the purchasing power of the initial investment, said USAC President Avinoam Baral.
After the council votes to allocate the funds, they are distributed across other USAC funds according to a formula laid out in the council’s bylaws.
According to the previous surplus distribution model, councilmembers had to allocate the USA Programming Fund at least 45 percent of the surplus funds, and allocate 12 percent to Capital Items Fund. The Contingency Fund received any remaining money.
Council voted to change these percentages to allocate 40 percent to USA Programming and 55 percent to Contingency to keep contingency funds higher than $50,000. The five percent of remaining surplus was allocated to Capital Items, a fund less utilized by student groups.
The formula change, which council amended before approving, was proposed by Baral and Internal Vice President Heather Hourdequin in a special presentation to stabilize student funding sources.
Compiled by Catherine Liberty Feliciano, Bruin contributor.
