Carleton Computer Science Society Levy Referendum
Vote to shape the future of Carleton's Computer Science community!
October 29, 2024
Over the past decade, Carleton’s Computer Science program has grown rapidly and our student population has tripled. However, funding for the initiatives that enhance your university experience, especially those tailored for computer science students, has not kept pace.
Today, the Carleton Computer Science Society (CCSS) only receives $3,000 in consistent funding each year. With such limited financial support, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain our services, especially large-scale events like hackathons and company networking nights that draw hundreds of participants.
To meet these rising demands, we’re proposing the introduction of a $2.50 per term levy for all full-time undergraduate Computer Science students indexed to the Consumer Price Index, starting in the Fall of 2025.
Please make sure to vote on November 12th-13th, 2024 via the online ballot sent to your cMail account.
How is Our Funding Used?
The CCSS budget supports a wide range of initiatives that enhance student life, offer career development, and foster academic success, including:
- Industry Skill Workshops & Tech Talks
- Prof Socials & Research Nights
- Code Competitions & Hackathons
- Career Presentations & Services
- Study Sessions
- Project Work Sessions
- Student Lounge & Social Events
- Online Student Services
We consistently organize 50+ social, academic and career oriented events and services each year, helping students connect, grow, and succeed throughout their time at Carleton.
Week of Awesome
Established in 2014, Week of Awesome is an annual tradition organized to welcome incoming and returning Computer Science students to the upcoming academic year. It consists of 10+ events over a week and requires a budget of approximately $1,000 to organize.
Hack the Tunnels
Hack the Tunnels is a hackathon designed to provide students with hands-on experience in web development and software engineering. With hundreds of eager participants, Hack the Tunnels requires a budget of approximately $3,000 to organize.
Jobuary
Jobuary is our annual series of career oriented events and services dedicated to helping students secure internships and advance their careers. Last year we had 14 events and required a budget of $600+.
Why Do We Need the Levy?
As the Computer Science program grows, so does the demand for events, services, and support. Without adequate funding, it’s becoming harder to maintain the quality and quantity of these offerings. The proposed levy would provide the consistent financial support needed to meet these demands and ensure that the CCSS can continue enriching your university experience.
Student Population Has Tripled… Our Funding Has Not
Our student population has surged to 2,791 in 2023, compared to 998 in 2013, nearly tripling in the past decade. However, our funding has not increased to match this growth, leaving us to serve a much larger community with the same limited resources.
Inconsistent Funding Sources
Currently, our only guaranteed funding is a $3,000 annual sponsorship from the School of Computer Science. However, the rest of our funding sources are unreliable, and we often don’t receive confirmation of their availability until several months into the academic year. This unpredictability makes it challenging to plan and organize events effectively.
Below are the funding sources for the 2023-2024 academic year:
Lack of Liquid Cash
One of our biggest challenges is that we don’t receive funding upfront. Instead, most of our funding works on a reimbursement system—meaning the CCSS has to pay for event expenses first and then wait weeks to get the money back after submitting receipts. In practice, this often requires volunteers to personally front thousands of dollars for event supplies, venue bookings, and other expenses—something that is neither fair nor sustainable for most university students.
This system limits our ability to plan larger events and forces us to scale back initiatives due to uncertainty around how quickly we can recover costs. With reliable, upfront funding from the proposed levy, we could eliminate this burden on volunteers.
How Does Our Proposed Levy Compare to Other Societies?
Many other student societies collect significantly larger levies, providing them with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding annually. In comparison, our proposed levy of $2.50 per term, applied to 2,214 full-time Computer Science students (2023-2024), would raise approximately $11,000 per year. This modest amount would allow us to sustain and expand our services while keeping costs affordable for students.
How Would We Spend Our New Funds?
If the majority votes in favor of the levy, our new budget will focus on the following priorities:
Maintaining Quality and “Baseline”
We’d really like to keep doing everything we do today, but without sufficient funding that has become near impossible. Increased funding would allow us to continue all the events and services we offer today and give us more flexibility to ensure that the quality of our events and services does not decline as demand grows.
Purchasing Equipment
Currently, our volunteers often rely on their personal belongings to help organize events and services—everything from bringing cleaning supplies, cables, lights, microphones, etc. We have such little funding that we internally cycle through our volunteer’s free CUSA printing to get posters made.
Operational Costs
Many of our larger events like hackathons, networking events, and off-campus socials require venue bookings, which often require a down payment or non-refundable deposits to secure spaces.
These upfront costs can be quite expensive, and without immediate funding, volunteers are often forced to cover the expenses themselves and wait weeks or even months for reimbursement. With upfront funding from the proposed levy, we could reserve venues more efficiently without placing this financial burden on our volunteers.
Community Space Improvements
A portion of the proposed levy would be allocated toward improving our lounge (HP 4135) to better serve students. We plan to invest in better lighting, updated furniture, and other enhancements to transform the lounge into a more welcoming space.
Opportunities for Growth
With our current budget, we are just barely able to organize our existing slate of events and services. There is little to no room to allow for the introduction of new ideas.
Increased funding would give our team the opportunity to explore new possibilities such as workshops that require technical equipment, brand new social events and new services for students without compromising on the quality of our existing initiatives.
Conclusion
To support this levy, please vote on November 12-13, 2024, via the online ballot sent to your cMail account. Voting only takes a moment, but your involvement will make a lasting difference for the Computer Science community at Carleton.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us at info@ccss.carleton.ca.
