New colleges strapped for cash

By Henry Deng     10/28/10 7:00pm

Despite a wide spectrum of budget cuts across the university, Rice has not reduced the budgets allotted to the individual residential colleges. Even with the addition of Duncan College and McMurtry College, the formula for determining how much money each college receives annually has remained unchanged.McMurtry and Duncan

Duncan and McMurtry now face the significant challenge of shaping their new colleges with roughly the same amount of cash allotted to the other colleges. According to McMurtry President Kelsey Zottnick and Duncan President Amber Makhani, their colleges will have more start-up costs while not having funds saved from previous years.

Zottnick said McMurtry is trying to find a balance between buying things for the college and maintaining student quality of life.

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"We're given a budget that presumes that we are only going to use it for the daily functioning and student life at our college," Zottnick, a McMurtry senior, said. "With the new colleges, our biggest struggle is trying to start to maintain an identity through the activities we are able to have."

Makhani, a Duncan junior, also talked about the importance of forging an identity while operating within the bounds of Duncan's budget.

"We're making concessions on permanent improvements so that we can still have events and traditions," Makhani said. "That's really the important thing right now: creating an identity, making traditions and setting precedents."

Both presidents said a large part of infusing identity into their colleges would be adding amenities and furnishing their concrete-covered rooms. Makhani said that because the architecture of the two buildings is so similar, it is especially important to buy carpets, curtains, artwork and other items to differentiate the two and present unique personalities.

At the moment, both college presidents said they are working together to increase their capacities to fund these projects by talking to their masters, requesting more money, and looking at fundraising ideas.

"We've talked to our masters and we are going to try to request a little more money so that the students aren't penalized for having fewer resources than students at other colleges," Makhani said. "They should have the same access to events or academic resources as other students, and having a home and comfortable living space is one of them."

According to Zottnick, the biggest priority other than amenitities will be Beer Bike, given that McMurtry only owns one bike and needs to buy more to compete in the race.

"It bothers me because we're paying the exact same to go to Rice," Zottnick said. "We should be funded and furnished the same. It's definitely important for us to get bikes because we want to feel like an enfranchised part of the college system."

At Duncan, Makhani said that the college owns two bikes but would also need to spend more because the students want to compete.

In addition to the necessary start-up costs in both new colleges, Duncan and McMurtry have also run into various unexpected expenses this year. For example, Makhani said that Duncan was charged $6,000 for cleanup costs after painting its commons windows during O-Week. They were not aware that the windows required a special, expensive soap to clean.

Makhani said that Duncan and McMurtry are working together through the challenges they face.

"A lot of times, if Duncan gets something done, we tell McMurtry, and they do the same for us," Makhani said.

Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson said no additional money will be given to McMurtry and Duncan this year from college fees, but that they could put in additional requests that might be granted from other budgets.

However, Duncan and McMurtry have received support from the university and other residential colleges, such as $250 donations from the masters of eight other colleges from their masters' budgets.

However, even with the issues in their budgets, the two new colleges have managed to stay resourceful. According to Makhani, Duncan freshmen have started a tradition called "Monday Night Lights" during which they lay toilet paper rolls across servery tables as nets and play because they do not have a ping pong table. Just as Duncan students found an inexpensive way to entertain themselves at night, both colleges are using their students and other resources to meet their college needs.

"In the end, it's the people that said. "It's nice to see that Rice kids don't take everything too seriously."

Jones freshman Chloe Blaskiewicz said that she was pumped for NOD as well. For her costume, she has put together a Lady Gaga in

really make the college what it is," Makhani said.

Effect on other colleges

According to Hutchinson, the issue of allocating funds from the Dean's Office to new colleges is a novel one, as residential colleges collected their own college fees from students during O-Week when Martel College opened in 2002. In 2005, the university centralized college fee collection by including it in tuition so colleges were more equal and students no longer had to pay an extra fee when they got to Rice.

This year, the calculation for individual college budgets is the same as in the past three years: The total amount set aside by the university equals the total number of undergraduate students multiplied by $125, and 60 percent of this figure is split evenly among the 11 colleges while the remaining 40 percent is split proportionately by population.

Because the formula remained the same for the college budgets, the addition of two new colleges did not decrease the amounts to the other colleges from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates. The apportioning was designed by former Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman and former college presidents in anticipation of the two larger new colleges.

However, because part of the formula is still based on college populations, there was loss in some colleges relative to previous years due to students transferring to McMurtry and Duncan.

Sid Richardson College President Mary Johnson said that even though her college has a cushion of leftover money to work with, they saw a budget decrease of about $4,000, mainly due to transfers, and had to cut some budgets as a result. Furthermore, due to the increased undergraduate population, Sid has had to increase spending on public events, such as its annual '80s party.

Hutchinson said college fees are only part of Rice's investment in the residential colleges. The college masters have budgets, associates' meal plans cost money and there are costs associated with housing masters, resident associates and head resident fellows.

Lovett College sophomore Aakash Keswani said the university's continued investment in the residential college system is important for Rice's quality of life.

"You really are part of a smaller community, not just the extended Rice community," Keswani said. "That feeling where you know you have a place that you're welcome and can go without second thoughts is really valuable.

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