Money Matters at the Students' AGM

At the Annual General Meeting of the Students’ Unions and Societies late last month, one recurring theme on both the agenda and present in the questions to the Sabbatical Officers was that of money.

First, in terms of the affiliation with the National Union of Students, the Bath Student’s Union has had its membership fee decreased from £56,000 to £33,000. Whether this will result in a budget surplus this year and what will be done with this extra money has yet to be discussed.

It was stressed during the meeting that the responsibility of managing funds gained from membership fees is exclusively at the discretion of the respective societies. No capital gained from these fees will go to fund a different society.

One issue that was raised during the questions was that the cash machine in Norwood, at the foot of the stairs to the Plug Bar is often empty and unable to dispense any money. While no direct solution was forthcoming, the Union explained that filling the ATM is now the duty of the bank that runs the machine, Alliance & Leicester, and it is no longer a prerogative of the Students’ Union. In practice, the cash machine is supposed to alert the company when its cash levels fall below a certain level. The SU declared that the current response to this problem is unacceptable and the issue will be sorted as soon as possible.

A key concern at the meeting was that, at present, The University of Bath’s Library card does not feature the official NUS logo insignia, and as such is sometimes not accepted for student discounts. The Union attributed the complexities of the matter to the fault of the retailers, as recently the NUS has scrapped the traditional NUS Card for “NUS Extra” meaning that this is the only way to get an NUS discount. Any generic student deals, i.e. not exclusive to the NUS, should be available upon presentation of a library card, which proves the bearer is a student. However, the lack of an official NUS logo on Bath’s card has led some outlets to be sceptical of its authenticity. The Bath SU doubts that this will change though, as it is likely that the NUS wishes to ensure that the Extra card is the only way to get NUS discounts.

While the SU was unable to announce many clear solutions to the issues raised, the overall sentiment seems to be that the Union will do everything in its power to ensure that every matter will be investigated fully.