Last year, STU-Info did a quick analysis of the St. Thomas University Students’ Union budget proposal for this year.  Since the union’s budget is coming up again and again in this year’s election discussion, we thought it was time to dig up the data.

Here is what they came up with at the time:

STUSU student fees are $108 for full time students.  But what does that money pay for?  Over here at STU Info we went to town on STUSU’s proposed operating budget for next year.

We took the $108 and figured out how much of each service you students end up paying for.

Did you know that out of that $108, just 39 cents goes to the Public Relations budget? Safe Wheels costs you only $3.53 per year.

Check out the data we’ve crunched.

Here’s the basic chart.

And in case you were interested.  Here’s how much of your $108 goes to each section of STUSU.

The proposed STUSU budget for 2009-2010 is  $17,764 less than last year’s.  Where did the money go?

The money is gone because the students are gone.
This is what happens when essentially all of the Union’s revenue is tied directly to student fees.  Shrinking enrollment at St. Thomas University leads directly to less money in the coffers for the Union to provide services with.

Unlike UNB and other university’s student unions, STUSU doesn’t operate a single revenue generating venture (like a store or a pub).  So when enrollment is down, cash is down.

So where are the students?  STU’s been on a pretty steady slide for the last several years.  Here’s the info we dug up:

This is all in a Maritime atmosphere of general, very small decline.