Acadia Students' Union
If you clicked on this page, I imagine you’re curious about how to get some or how we’re using it right? You’ve come to the right place. On this page you’ll find several links to information on our budgeting, audits, ASU fees and how to get your club, society, or association event funded. Although looking at a budget or reviewing an audit report don’t sound like fun to many people, these two documents can show us how we’re operating and serve as an important picture of the ASU’s fiscal health.
As a non-profit, we’re primarily supported through member fees which we’re entrusted to use in carrying out our mission statement.
Check out where we allocate funds in this year’s operating budget by scrolling down in this page.
What fees am I paying and what are they for? Let’s break it down!
While we’re not permitted to share some information publicly, if you have any specific questions we’re happy to speak with you!
The ASU Vice-President Finance and Operations can be reached at asuvpfo@acadiau.ca.
Find us
Money
A budget is a prediction.
It’s taking historical information and anticipated circumstances to allocate what we think we’ll need to carry out that department’s goals. Of course, it would be amazing if we always had enough funding to provide everything each department needed to be its best, but the reality is we don’t have enough to go around.
This means as we move through the budget cycle, a drafted operating budget goes through three sets of review and approval to make sure everyone is in agreement on how we can prioritize and balance each area’s needs the best we can. Importantly, the two top levels of review and approval are composed of elected and appointed students to make sure decisions are always made by those chosen by the student membership and their representative council!
The annual schedule for budget preparation and adoption is:
April 1st – Beginning of our fiscal year (approved operating budget comes into effect).
Mid-November – VP Finance & Operations presents a mid year budget report to Council.
January – Department heads are sent a budget template for the next fiscal year to fill out.
Mid-February – All Departments submit their budget proposals for review.
Late February – VP Finance & Operations, General Manager and Finance Manager review full draft operating budget and finalize proposal for presentation to Council’s Finance Committee.
Early March – Finance Committee brings proposed operating budget to Council for final adoption.
Budget
An audit is an unbiased (third-party) evaluation of the ASU financial reports.
In this way, we can ensure that our organization is keeping accurate records and is in accordance with accounting standards, ASU regulations, and any applicable laws. An audit report can also provide helpful recommendations on where we can improve our practices to increase accuracy and/or prevent any opportunities for malpractice.
The annual schedule for audit preparation and adoption is:
Early April – Auditor performs an end of year inventory count.
Mid August - Accounting completes for previous year and Trial Balance and all other information is provided by Finance Manager to the auditor for review.
September/Early October – Field audit is conducted in different cycles by the auditors.
End of October – Drafted audit report is provided to VP Finance & Operations, General Manager and Finance Manager for initial review and clarification.
Early November – Audit report is presented to Council’s Finance Committee for recommendation to Council on approval.
Mid November – Council adopts submitted audit report.
Audit
As a member, there’s a whole host of ways we serve you and the wider student community.
Sometimes it’s pretty obvious like operating the Axe Lounge, Cajun’s, Perkin’s, SHRC, all our Internal Organizations like the Women’s Centre and Pride, but quite a bit of our everyday efforts are spent on advocating for our student members in ways they’ll never know! You support our student representatives’ advocacy work at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government. We’re also making sure to bring the student voice to every Acadia Board and Senate meeting, and numerous committees across the university. None of this would happen if we couldn’t carry out the ASU mission statement primarily through our membership fees.
We have one operating fee and several other fees which are restricted.
“What do you mean restricted”?
Well, any time our council has initiated a student fee or adjusted one, we have to run a referendum allowing student members to ultimately decide if they support the reason why council would like to receive the funds. When we asked student members for their approval, the question would contain an explanation as to what their funds would go toward.
For example, we can’t receive the Class Fee of $3.00 and use those funds for anything other than supporting that year’s Grad Class programming. Using it for anything else would be a breach of our fiduciary duty.
Fees
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GRADUATE
FALL - WINTER TERM
EITHER FALL OR WINTER
Graduate Fees
Students’ Union Fee
$193.86
$96.93
See above for individual descriptions.
ASU Wellness Fee
$30.00
$15.00
This is directed to supporting our Wellness Grants, SHRC, Acadia’s gym and club sports.
Building Fund Fee
$30.00
$15.00
Directed to cover SUB costs like utilities, maintenance, custodial, etc.
Graduate Student Association Fee
$1.00
$1.00
This fee is directed to the GSA annually.
Limited Interest Fee
$3.00
$1.50
Supports student programming
Renovation & Accessibility Fee
$50.00
$25.00
Currently directed to the renovation cost of the Axe Lounge in 2018.
WUSC Fee
$1.00
$0.50
Supports the annual registration fee for WUSC and a monthly stipend to each year’s WUSC student
TOTAL
$308.86
$154.93
TOTAL
GRADUATE
FALL - WINTER TERM
EITHER FALL OR WINTER
Students’ Union Fee
$193.86
$96.93
This is our general operating fee.
ASU Wellness Fee
$30.00
$15.00
This is directed to supporting our Wellness Grants, SHRC, Acadia’s gym and club sports.
Building Fund Fee
$30.00
$15.00
Directed to cover SUB costs like utilities, maintenance, custodial, etc.
Graduate Student Association Fee
$1.00
$1.00
This fee is directed to the GSA annually.
Limited Interest Fee
$3.00
$1.50
Supports student programming
Renovation & Accessibility Fee
$50.00
$25.00
Currently directed to the renovation cost of the Axe Lounge in 2018.
WUSC Fee
$1.00
$0.50
Supports the annual registration fee for WUSC and a monthly stipend to each year’s WUSC student
TOTAL
$308.86
$154.93
TOTAL
Undergraduate Fees
UNDERGRADUATE
FALL - WINTER TERM
EITHER FALL OR WINTER
Students’ Union Fee
$193.86
$96.93
This is our general operating fee.
ASU Wellness Fee
$30.00
$15.00
This is directed to supporting our Wellness Grants, SHRC, Acadia’s gym and club sports.
Building Fund Fee
$30.00
$15.00
Directed to cover SUB costs like utilities, maintenance, custodial, etc.
Class Dues, undergraduate
$3.00
$1.50
Goes to that year’s Grad Class committee to help fund programming.
Limited Interest Fee
$3.00
$1.50
Supports student programming
Renovation & Accessibility Fee
$50.00
$25.00
Currently directed to the renovation cost of the Axe Lounge in 2018.
WUSC Fee
$2.00
$1.00
Supports the annual registration fee for WUSC and a monthly stipend to each year’s WUSC student
TOTAL
$310.86
$155.43
TOTAL
General Part-Time Studies Fee
Undergraduate & Graduate – All terms
$10.29/3h course
Applicable in all work terms
$10.29/per work term
Co-op Students General fee
See our Health & Dental page here for information on the plan fees and description here.
Health & Dental Fees
