Email ussfinance@newschool.edu for any funding-related questions you might have!
Reminder: we are students working on a volunteer basis with classes to attend, work schedules, and unpredictable circumstances too. We try our best to respond as soon as we can, but please be patient and mindful of our response times as listed below.
Welcome to the Funding Hub! This is your centralized location for everything you need to know about seeking funding from the USS. Before you browse through our current roster of funding opportunities, please diligently review all relevant sections of this page. Thank you for enriching student life at The New School!
The University Student Senate Fee (SSF) is a $9 student fee collected by the University each semester, which is used to carry out key parts of the University and University Student Senate (USS) missions to promote and safeguard student life on campus. This fee is entrusted to the USS for allocation to the university community, with administrative support and management from the Office of Student Leadership, Involvement, and Transition Experiences (SLI-TE), Procurement Department, and Financial Aid, among other offices. The goal of the fee allocation is to financially support student-led programs, events, and projects that benefit the entire student body. USS’s allocation of this fee aims to avoid conflict of interest and enact impartiality when evaluating budget requests that come before their Finance committee.
Small-scale events are defined as meetings, events, and low-risk activities for which one or more of the following apply:
Events with attendance do not exceed 100 individuals
The event budget and/or expenses do not exceed $1,200.00.
The complexity of the event does not require a Certificate of Insurance.
Examples of these are: general body meetings, fundraisers, tabling, board game nights, small concerts or events, etc.
You are required to submit this budget request a minimum of 28 business days before your proposed event date to review and complete an event proposal.
Mid-scale events are defined as meetings, events, and other activities where one or more of the following conditions may apply
The event may have aspects of risk associated with certain activities, ex. Alumni and/or guest speakers, end-of-year banquets, dance rehearsals, middle-sized concerts, events, programs, theater productions, activities, or travel, etc.
Events with greater than 100 attendance but does not exceed 250 individuals.
Event sponsored by more than one student, independent organization, or office
The event budget and/or expenses does not exceed $3,000.00
The complexity of the event may require a Certificate of Insurance.
You are required to submit this budget request a minimum of 42 business days before your proposed event date to review and complete an event proposal.
Large-scale events are defined as meetings, events, performances, and other activities where one or more of the following conditions are met:
The event will have an aspect of risk associated with certain activities, ex—high-profile guest speakers, cultural shows, theater productions, large-scale conference travel, etc.
Events with attendance of more than 300 individuals
The event budget and/or expenses does not exceed $5,000.00
The following may also be considered:
Past history of the event or a similar event
An event sponsored by more than two students, independent organizations, or offices
The event’s complexity requires a Certificate of Insurance and other University Safety, Security, and major Facilities support.
You are required to schedule a meeting with your SLI-TE staff and/or your advisor a minimum of 8 weeks before your proposed event date to review and complete an event proposal.
Please keep in mind that financial transactions, including processing contracts, invoices, and service purchase orders, can require planning between 4 and 8 weeks in advance for any event.
The Major Annual University Initiative Budget Request defines major events as public student conferences, performances, rallies, social gatherings, concerts, sporting events, series of programming, and other activities for which one or more of the following conditions apply:
The event requires the involvement of more than one campus administrative unit or office
Must have at least 4 RSOs or independent organizations sponsoring the activities
The event or series of events for the budget and/or expenses does not exceed $10,000.00
The event affects public safety or general operations on campus or significantly affects campus services (including service roads or parking).
The event may interfere with other campus academic or business functions or activities.
All dances and concerts (regardless of attendance).
When over 500 individuals are estimated to attend.
Major Outdoor amplified sound is requested.
The following may also be considered:
Past history of the event or a similar event.
The breadth of distribution of advertising.
Location/capacity of the facility where the event is held.
The anticipated ratio of TNS community members to non-student participants.
Time of day or night.
You are required to schedule a meeting with your SLI-TE and your advisor a minimum of 8-12 weeks before your proposed event date to review and complete an event proposal.
The USS welcomes all currently enrolled New School students in good academic and conduct standing and organizations led by currently enrolled students to apply for funding, regardless of registration through SLI-TE.
All student groups that are chapters of an outside organization must be in good standing with said organization and must meet all re-registration deadlines.
Before requesting or spending funds, a Registered Student Organizations Identified Treasurer must have completed all necessary trainings and modules.
To be eligible for continued funding, organizations must complete all outstanding paperwork for previous requests funded by the SAF.
The programming, event planning, creative projects, or activities MUST be open to all students and organized by official RSOs, students, university departments, colleges, or faculty members. It cannot be used for one individual student’s activities, travel, or academic programming.
Please note that you must clearly identify which fund you are applying to. Budget sheets must contain clear and concise totals and breakdowns of all funding requested. We do not accept proposal documents sent via email.
ALL APPLICANTS MUST submit an Executive Summary after your event. For more information about the Executive Summary, scroll down to the Executive Summary section.
All community members seeking to request budget requests from SFF are allowed the following number of requests from the USS. Please note that ONLY small-scale event budgets can be combined with the other budget types outlined below.
Up to 3 Small-Scale Events Budget Request throughout the academic year totaling: $7,500.00.
You are only allowed to submit one budget request of this type if you plan to request any other level of budget request type during an academic year.
Up to 1 Mid-Scale Events Budget Request throughout the academic year totaling: $5,000.00
This budget type can be combined with a Small-Scale budget request to total annual allocation not exceeding totaling: $7,500.00
Up to 1 Large-Scale Events Budget Request throughout the academic year totaling: $7,500.00
This budget request type cannot be combined with any other budget request. However, you can serve as a co-sponsor of A Major Annual University Initiative with RSOs or independent organizations or offices.
Up to one Major Annual University Initiative Budget Request throughout the academic year totaling: $10,000.00
This budget request type cannot be combined with any other budget request. However, you can serve as a co-sponsor of A Major Annual University Initiative with RSOs or independent organizations or offices.
For more information, including how to become a Registered Student Organization. Please visit this document and direct any questions to studentorgs@newschool.edu.
Budget Request Form
In order to request funds from the SFF via the USS Finance Committee, all community members are welcome to submit the following form.
Please note that this form is governed by all New School University policies, the guidelines in this document, and SLI-TE policies.
Please be sure to review section, “VI.Expenditure Restrictions“ of this document to ensure that you are aware of all of the items USS and SLI-TE if allocated to allocate funds for events, programs, or activities at the New School.
USS and SLI-TE is not allowed to cover the cost of any purchase, payments, etc., that happen before this form is completed and the USS Finance committee provides approval.
Please note that if this is your first time submitting a budget larger than a mid-scale budget request, we recommend meeting with an SLI-TE team member to ensure you know how this process works.
Presentation Processes
After your form has been submitted, members of the Finance Committee and the SLI-TE will review it and, if necessary, make edits.
Please note that you will have 48 hours to review and make edits after you receive feedback for resubmission.
After the final submission, please note that you will receive an email from a member of the committee inviting you to present to the committee to ensure that all of your budget and activities benefit the TNS community, as outlined in the form.
You will receive this email three business days before your presentation, a minimum.
If your request includes additional funding sources other than the USS, you are required to disclose all of your funding sources to us before we can make a decision about your proposal. Student groups applying for funding must also inform the committee of their registration status with SLI-TE and, if applicable, provide a draft plan for their SLI funding.
An Executive Summary has three purposes:
1) It is a review of the challenges you faced in accomplishing you proposal and a place to provide feedback for the ways student life on campus can be better supported;
2) It is a record and legacy of your efforts during the semester that can serve as an inspiration for future student leaders;
3) It provides accountability to the student body, whose funds have been entrusted and allocated to you.
Provide an executive summary (here is Example of an Executive Summary) after your event according to the guidelines on our website. Keep and preserve all your receipts. Modify your budget to indicate what was spent.
Executive Summaries must be uploaded to your original proposal folder and contain all required sections. Please email the Finance Committee at ussfinance@newshool.edu once you have done so.
What is a USS? What is an RSO? What is an SLI-TE?
Register Student Organizations (RSO) - are student organizations registered through the SLI-TE Office.
Independent Student Groups are student organizations that are not registered through SLI-TE.
Independent Student initiatives are proposals geared toward programming, event planning, or creative projects directed by one or more students and open to the entire student body. These funds cannot benefit one singular student or individual.
I got approved for funding! What now?
Congratulations! Approved funding proposals will receive a confirmation email confirming the total amount of funding provided and any additional information needed to process these funds.
Upon approval, only RSOs or individuals who have not received any external funding will be able to process funds through SLI. If you have received funding from a department within the institution, they become liable for processing funds approved by the Senate. The approved party is responsible for relaying this information to their department following any approved funding.
I have an event scheduled in a week! Can you please approve my proposal?
As much as we love supporting student life, we are a fully student-run organization at the end of the day and physically do not have the ability to hear funding proposals 7 days a week. Trust us, even if we do, all funding allocations are still subject to a two week turnaround time. As such, we are unable to hear emergency funding appeals. Our advice is to prepare your documents early and submit your budget request as soon as possible to expedite the allocation process.
I don’t really know how much funding I need. Why don’t I do some rough estimation to meet the maximum amount?
We highly discourage applying using budgets that are in large part based on estimation and contain excessive requests for spare, miscellaneous, or unspecified categories of funding. As the custodian of a valuable resource funded solely by our students, we take our responsibilities seriously. Please note that we reserve the right to audit your expenditures and request proof of compliance at any point after approval of funding. If you are found to have utilized less than 30% of your requested funding before the last quarter of the semester or failed to disclose additional funding sources, we may reallocate your remaining funds.
Why didn’t get approval for x, y, and z? I met all the requirements!
Unfortunately, the USS is subject to US Law regulating higher education. We are currently unable to fund certain requests, despite how little sense it makes, because we are legally barred from doing so - but we are working on it.