VP Finance: How would you spend your money?

Hello Engineers! This issue I’d like to discuss Engineering Society Finances in general. Obviously a big part of my role as Vice President Finance is to manage anything and everything to do with finances of the Society. The Engineering Society is here to serve and represent all undergraduate engineering students at Waterloo. This means that the Society should be spending money on what students want. However, it can often be hard to balance priorities. What might be a sound financial decision for the Society might not make the most sense for what students want. On the other hand, spending money on only what students want (i.e. free food and swag) isn’t always the best decision either.

Whenever the Society makes a financial decision, I usually ask myself one question – “If I told 100 people I don’t know what we spent this money on, what would they say?” I think it’s very important that we keep in mind what students want and try to reflect our decisions based on this. Sure, there might be 50 people out there who want to spend money on a pizza party, but what about the other 3000 plus students on campus? What would they think?

Looking at all the incidental fees that students here at Waterloo pay, it might be hard to keep up with what each one goes towards. In fact, you might think that all of these fees are a waste of your money. That’s why I want to pose the question: how would you spend your money? If you were in my role and had about $15 for every student on campus, what would you do with it?

The Engineering Capital Improvements Fund (ECIF) might be a good place. This fund is used to purchase things that will make your life better at Waterloo. New furniture for POETS and new equipment in the Orifice are just a few of the things that the fund has bought in the past. We are always looking for ideas on what to buy, so if there’s something you think that the school needs, you should let me know.

I want to hear how you would spend your money. Want to know how we spend it right now? Check out the EngSoc website (http://engsoc.uwaterloo.ca) and go under Documents. Have an idea on how we should spend it? Drop me an e-mail at vpfinance.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca.

To end off this article I’d like to take an opportunity to congratulate Abdullah Barakat who has been elected as the next A-Society Vice President Finance. Abdullah has a lot of great ideas on how to make improvements under the finance portfolio, so be sure to keep an eye out for those. See you next issue!