Today the Daily Universe published an excellent story on how BYUSA spends its budget money. In the article they state that during a single semester this last year, BYUSA had a budget of $260,000! Where is all this money going?
From the article:
Yet despite the initially rigorous approval process, former BYUSA members say much of the organization’s spending is left up to student discretion — a fact that some feel does not always result in the most worthwhile expenditures.
Clint Peterson, a former executive director of the university’s Student Advisory Council who worked closely with BYUSA, said he estimates only 40 percent of the organization’s expenses go to activities and initiatives that directly benefit students, while the remaining 60 percent are often spent on luxurious, catered banquets, retreats for student leadership and advertising to further promote the organization.
“There are big banquets for leadership at the end of every semester, catered with gourmet three-course meals,” Peterson said. “There is food at every retreat, usually two meals from a nice restaurant. Every expense needs to be approved by faculty within BYUSA, but it seems that everything gets signed off on without any real debate.”
If one of the purposes of BYUSA is to build effective leaders, why are they allowed to spend money unwisely? Our society is already full of leaders who know how to recklessly spend other people's money. We don't need any more of those kind of leaders.
Also:
“As a private university, BYU does not publish or release any budget information,” Ward said in an e-mail. “The BYUSA budget does not come from tithing dollars, but rather from the money that comes in through tuition. This is comparable to other colleges and universities who charge student fees.”
Why are we not getting this money back in the form of reduced tuition? I would like to be able to opt out of contributing to BYUSA, please.
Here is the rest of the article:
P.S. There are several good comments at the bottom of the article from both sides of the issue.
