The University Student Senate (USS) was told that its budget for the 2024-25 school year was $400,000. That was about a $200,000 overestimation. By February, the USS had unknowingly spent almost half of its funds, according to Samera Shim, Director of Finance for the USS. The Senate funds student activities, like clubs and organizations, among other projects aimed at student wellness, like the food pantry.

The overestimation came from advisors from Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI), who provide financial oversight to the USS. The Senior Director of SLI, Andrade Fearon, confirmed the same figure to the New School Free Press in October. 

This overestimation came from an accounting of rollover funds. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the university allowed any unused USS money to be added to the following year’s budget. That policy ended officially after the spring 2024 semester, but according to Shim, USS was told that it would still receive rollover funds from the previous academic year. 

“[SLI advisors] did a very large overestimation in which [SLI] assumed $80,000 would be rolling from fall ‘23 [and] $80,000 from spring ‘24, adding $160,000 to this 24-25 budget,” Shim said. In actuality, the Student Senate started the 24-25 academic year with an estimated $220K-240K.

As of Feb. 26, there were roughly $91,000 worth of awaiting requests from organizations and clubs, and just $110,000 left in their budget. Shim said that they will be allocating $30,000 to the USS internally to fund USS-sponsored events, specific team needs, and the New School Food Pantry. The rest of the funds will go to student-run clubs and organizations within the university. 

Part of the problem stems from the USS’s lack of direct access. “We can’t check a live number of it and it’s also not like a bank account where you can see every transaction coming out of it,” Shim said.

The university, which manages the account, provides regular reports on the balance to USS advisors, but the student senators do not have access to the reports. The USS’s control over its funds only extends to choosing how much money is allocated to which program.

“You can’t just ask in a meeting, ‘How much money do we have?’ Because that’s not something that’s always readily available,” Shim said.  

In response to this overestimation, Shim, as well as the rest of the USS’s advisors, are performing an internal audit on all USS spending from this past academic year. As well, next fall, the university will allow the senate to see its account balance. The ongoing audit is to create budget transparency and track how the money is spent throughout the university. “Where has this money gone? There is still a large chunk of money that I’m curious about … because even if $2,000 was spent on something, $2,000 can make an insane difference for mutual aid [and] for student clubs,” Shim said. 

Once the audit is done, Shim plans to make the USS budget publicly available.

In the meantime, Shim is hoping that student organizations will keep their budgets “as tight as possible,” stating that this is the best way to allocate these funds to the necessary needs of student organizations. 

“At the end of the day, there are so many clubs that are coming to me multiple times a week and presenting amazing events that they have planned and amazing initiatives that they like to do for the school. And I really want to be able to completely fund everything … It’s just a matter of how [I can] be most equitable about spending our money and not [give] anybody special privilege.” Shim said. 

Despite the surprising lack of funds, Shim emphasized that the USS doesn’t believe SLI or anyone in particular is to blame, and that the USS financial system simply lacks a strong budgetary structure. “There’s no foundation built especially for finance. And I think for anybody to step into that role — that’s incredibly overwhelming,” Shim said. The USS still intends to spend to zero, acknowledging that the rollover fund policy has ended.