Arts Frosh spent more money than it brought in this year, dipping into the red after the number of freshmen who signed up failed to meet the Arts Undergraduate Society’s expectations.
The AUS has not yet released any estimates for how much it lost on Frosh this year. AUS Vice-President Finance Majd Al Khaldi is set to release an exact figure at AUS Council on September 23.
“The numbers are swinging wildly, but any estimate is premature,” Al Khaldi said.
The shortfall was not caused by excessive spending, said AUS President Dave Marshall, but rather a lower than expected freshman turnout. This year’s registration cap was raised from 1,450 students to 1,800, but only 1,482 students actually registered and paid fees.
“We spent less on Frosh than we had actually projected, so in many ways there were no excess expenses—we were very good at keeping those under wraps,” Marshall said. “The most significant source of that deficit was the registration revenue not meeting projections.”
The decision to raise the cap was made by AUS VP Events Nampande Londe and Arts Frosh co-ordinators in June when they received information from McGill regarding the number of first-year students who had enrolled. Londe, who was responsible for organizing Frosh, said the new restrictions on who could register for Frosh were likely the largest cause of this shortfall.
“The biggest thing was that we restricted the registration so severely,” she said. “In past years it’s been implied that it’s only for first-years in the Faculty of Arts, but this year we made a very strict move. No one was allowed to register if they weren’t a first-year in the Faculty of Arts, and that had a lot to do with it.”
Despite the shortfall, Londe insisted that she will not resign her position. Marshall acknowledged, however, that Londe is ultimately responsible to AUS Council. If councillors brought forward a motion to impeach her at their meeting next week, Londe could be forcibly removed.
Registration was only opened to other students on the final day of on-campus registration, when AUS executives realized that they were far short of their expected numbers. According to Marshall and Londe, the situation was further complicated by the fact that online registration nearly tripled from last year, which made AUS predict that on-campus registrations would increase as well.
Since registration fees are the primary source of revenue for Frosh, the shortfall was financed through AUS fees in general, into which all Arts undergraduates pay. Services provided by the AUS, such as the operation of the AUS Lounge and the Arts Student Employment Fund, will not suffer because of this loss, Marshall said.
“I think it’s important to note that traditionally it’s an unsaid thing that Frosh turns a profit,” he added. “I think it’s very important that we on AUS, and everyone, remember that we aren’t in the business of returning dividends to shareholders. At the same time, it would be inappropriate for us to go consistently over budget.”
The AUS Council and executives are currently brainstorming ways to increase accountability for future events, Al Khaldi said, including the possibility of mandating the VP finance to stay in Montreal over the summer, as well as stricter budget regulations for future events.
“Another thing I’m probably going to motion for is that beginning in October, all events will have to have a budget drafted and pre-approved by us, the exec,” Khaldi said. “That will help us basically foresee any potenial extra expenses that may change in the budget and also allow for a more institutionalized system.”
