<div dir="ltr"><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_151082f7eaf97b6e" alt="Inline image 5" width="222" height="222"><br></div><div><br></div><div>Hello Undergraduates,</div><div><br></div><div>I hope your weekend has been starting off well and that all friends and family are safe in light of recent tragedies.</div><div><br></div><div>I am writing to you today to discuss a proposed increase to the Student Life Fee by $11 over the course of 3 years, with an increase of $4 for the next fiscal year (see reasoning and details below). As Treasurer of the UA this year, it has been difficult to balance both finite budgetary constraints and student group requests for money. We understand that our allocations to student groups serve as core funding for the amazing events and activities that make MIT the place we all call home. We have listened to your disappointment in funding shortages and want to take action to ensure that this problem is permanently fixed going forward.</div><div><br></div><div>Due to the debt at the beginning of the year, we have regrettably had to scale back our allocations tremendously. The charts below highlight the rise in Finboard expenses that the UA has incurred since the 2011 fiscal year as well as the relative stability of our other expenses. It is clear that Finboard funding this year has been cut significantly due to the depletion of our reserves and debt from last year.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_151082c7c60e92e0" alt="Inline image 1" width="426" height="239"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_151082d522442725" alt="Inline image 2" width="444" height="242"><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>In addition to our strained Finboard funding, we have also seen a steady increase in the number of ASA Finboard funded groups, as charted below. There has been on average 16 new funded student groups per year. This increase is absolutely critical for maintaining MIT's unique culture, but also strains funding and allocations even further.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_151082df621f0a8c" alt="Inline image 3" width="444" height="224"><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>With the pressures of more groups needing more funding, our UA income has remained relatively stagnant, with no increases in the UA portion of the Student Life Fee since 2009 (other portions of the SLF go towards DAPER, MIT Medical, GSC, Dean for Student Life, and Dean for Graduate Education). In short, our spending has exceeded our income, leading us to look into raising sources of funding.</div><div><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="cid:ii_151082e62953d922" alt="Inline image 4" width="444" height="237"><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>We believe that FY14 was a sustainable expenditure for both the UA and student groups. We would need an extra $110,000 to reach the FY14 level of funding from our current projected FY16 funding. Therefore, in light of our stagnant income and heightened demand for our Finboard pool of money, we have proposed an increase of the Student Life Fee, now at $308, of $11 over 3 years. The first and second year, the fee will increase by $4 and the third year, the fee will increase by $3 for a total of $11. A new proposal will be submitted every year to review the need for an increase on a yearly basis. We estimate 10,000 students (both graduate and undergraduate students) to be paying the fee, bringing us to our target of an additional $110,000 in funding. By the end of this SLF increase schedule, we will be able to fund groups at the sustainable FY14 level. For those three years of increases, we are looking into setting up temporary funding that will reach our FY14 goal until the fee is increased by the total $11. </div><div><br></div><div>The proposal has been reviewed by Dean Colombo on Thursday, and we will be presenting the proposal at a Council meeting on Monday at 8pm in Room W20-400 (fourth floor of the student center, room 400) so that we can meet the MIT budgeting deadline of November 17th. Everyone is welcome to attend the Council meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>I encourage you to email me with any questions, concerns, or suggestions you may have about this increase or to schedule a time to meet with me. I hope that with this SLF increase, MIT students groups will have more fiscal flexibility in the future. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Alekhya Reddy<div>Massachusetts Institute of Technology c/o 2016</div><div>Sloan School of Management | Department of Mathematics</div><div><a href="mailto:alekhya@mit.edu" target="_blank">alekhya@mit.edu</a></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>
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