• Home
• About Us
• myGroups -- Browse & Manage Student Groups
  • Guides to Using myGroups
• Starting a Group
• Leadership Programs
• Event Planning
• Funding Options
• Undergraduate Finance Board
• Graduate Student Council
• Departmental Funding
• Late Night Fund
• From Student Groups
• Alumni, Corporations, and Parents
• Financial Account Management
• Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center at Faunce House
• T.F. Green Hall
• Brown University Activities Council (BUAC)
• Additional Resources and Services
• Policies

Undergraduate Finance Board

Every undergraduate pays a student activities fee as part of their annual tuition payment. This fee is used to fund student groups constituted by the Undergraduate Council of Students. The Undergraduate Finance Board (UFB) administers and oversees the funding process. UFB provides $90 in social funds to all UCS Category II and III groups. Category III groups are eligible to request additional funding at any UFB meeting throughout the year; however, the majority of monies are distributed during the annual budget allocations process each April.

All originally approved budgets are available to any student upon request from the UFB or the SAO. For questions or concerns about your budget, you need to speak with your UFB representative. A list of representatives is available. Groups can only access their budgets while classes are in session. Also, all money given to your group by UFB that is unspent at the end of each semester is returned to UFB. This money cannot be carried over from year to year or semester to semester.

See the UFB website for instructions on how to make a Financial Request.

Line Items and Transfers

When UFB approves your budget, all money is in specific line items. The money in those lines can only be used for things that fit into the lines. The line items are as follows:

• SUPPLIES: supplies, materials, equipment purchases, costumes, etc.

• PRINTING AND PUBLICITY: costs to publicize events, copying expenses, publication printing expenses, Graphic Services.

• EXTERNAL SERVICES: professional services, speaker fees, instructors, performers, consultants, outside staging and lighting services, film rental, venue rental fees, copyright permissions.

• UNIVERSITY SERVICES: Facilities Management, non-flat-fee Media Services expenses [Note: use “Printing and Publicity” for Graphic Services and “Other” for Catering].

• TRAVEL: travel-related expenses such as bus rental, gas reimbursement, and accommodations.

• DUES/FEES: costs of belonging to a larger organization, conference entry fees, city licenses.

• OTHER:   any costs that do not fit into any of the line items above, such as Brown/Student payroll, food, Catering, per diem meals for speakers, etc.

• BASELINE FUND: $200 per semester that may be spent on food or any other cost at the group’s discretion. Cannot be transferred or augmented. Automatically provided to all Category II and III groups.

Transferring funds from one line item to another, known as Line Item Transfers, requires UFB approval (groups can not transfer in or out of the baseline fund line item). Up to $200 can be transferred by your UFB representative. Amounts over $200 require you attend a meeting of the full UFB. The SAO cannot take care of this for you. We can help you determine what line a specific transaction will fall under, but your UFB rep is really the best person to consult if you are unsure. Transfering your UFB allocation to another organization or a department, regardless of the amount, requires UFB approval (referred to as an Intergroup Transfer).

More information is available from the Undergraduate Finance Board .

Scene from Musical Forum's production of Chicago. Musical Forum, like all UCS Category III organizations, is eligible to request Student Activities Fee funding. Every undergraduate pays a fee, the full balance of which is distributed by the Undergraduate Finance Board to support student organizations.