By Eric Thompson
An increase in student fees and increased revenue from the Student Commons helped the Student’s Association outperform their modest projections for the year of 2012-2013.
In total the school increased its net surplus $497,807, over $300,000 better than 2011-2012, and significantly better than the $68,252 projected in the budget.
Though it is a huge disparity, the budget predictions were intentionally conservative said Stafford Rollocks, the SA controller.
“We’re conservative in terms of the enrollment totals we use for budgeting,” said Rollocks. “Due to the fact that the SA, (has) loans for the sports field, we have loans for the Student Commons, and plus we have staff members and students that are dependent on us, we (need) to be fiscally responsible. Due to us being overly conservative it has resulted in huge surpluses.”
This cautious style allows the SA to have more funds set aside for a “rainy day” said Rollocks.
The approach has also won the bank’s favour, and allows the SA to take out huge loans without posting any collateral.
In terms of strong performers, businesses operating out of the Commons did far better than expected this year. Starbucks and the Theatre outperformed their projections by 128 per cent and 242 per cent respectively.
However, not every revenue stream had a solid year. The SA saw a disappointing return from Rotunda games, a partnership they have for the arcade games in B-building. The games only generated 25 per cent of a projected $3,500 in revenue. The shortfall means the SA will assess the viability of the service moving forward.
The college saw an almost $32 million increase in capital assets with the completion of the Commons as well as new facilities totaling $4.3 million in Pembroke and $800,000 for Perth campus.
Other highlights of the year included paying off the loan used to finance the construction of the Fitness Zone.