IU Student Government cut $56,000 from its 2025 fiscal year budget, decreasing spending by over 16% from $311,650 to $259,200.
A bill passed Monday rescinded $20,000 from student organization support and $10,000 from the lease gap scholarship fund, eliminating those expenditures. The lease gap scholarship fund was to provide financial assistance to students in between leases who may have faced homelessness.
The bill also rescinded $5,000 for the stop-gap lease initiative from $10,000, which would provide accommodation for students needing housing in between leases, $4,000 in discretionary funds for the IUSG Department of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, $4,000 from discretionary funds for its Department of Academic Affairs and $4,000 from discretionary funds for the Department of Sexual Violence Prevention.
However, the bill allocates $500 in new funding for the Makerspace inventory. Makerspace is located in the ClubHub in the Indiana Memorial Union and has 3D printers, sewing machines and more. The budget also allocates a $1,500 increase for the operating expenses of the IUSG Office of the First-Year Internship Program, which provides opportunities for first year students to participate in IUSG.
Luke Carman, congressional representative and clerk, said he voted in favor of the bill because it evens the funding allocated to each executive department, but he still supports the stop-gap lease program.
“The lease gap housing rescission is a conversation that needs to be tabled at the moment while we all talk about it and further our understanding of how that could work in terms of funding and contracts,” Carman said.
Student Body President Zachary Goldberg said when he learned of the need to reduce the budget, the first agreed-upon cut was student organization support. Traditionally, IUSG does not appropriate funding to student organizations. It only did so last year because the IU Funding Board overdrafted its account, Goldberg said.
Last semester, the previous FUSE administration negotiated a rate with the Biddle Hotel in the IMU for the lease-gap program, but the agreement failed to pass the congressional committee on oversight and finance by an April 26 deadline. IUSG committed to permanently funding the lease-gap initiative when Congress passed the Lease-Gap Program Funding Act in March 2025. IUSG then pivoted toward the scholarship program.
Goldberg said the stop-gap lease scholarship program was rescinded because of the inability for IUSG to distribute those funds equitably to students. He said the university only allows scholarships to be distributed to currently enrolled students, and students not enrolled in summer classes would be ineligible to apply. He said this past summer, IUSG pivoted funds to the lease-gap scholarship program in an attempt to distribute those funds, but it did not work out.
“Also, the program is one that takes place in the summer of 2026,” Goldberg said. “By that time, there will be a new budget, so for it to be in this year's budget technically isn't necessary.”
However, the stop-gap lease initiative will retain a $5,000 budget to show IUSG’s commitment to the program.
Student Body Vice President Ava Smith said she is still working on the stop-gap lease program and is exploring new options after negotiations with the Biddle Hotel in the Indiana Memorial Union fell through.
“We decided to pivot with the Graduate (Hotel), and we've been in constant communication with them to really try to make this program happen for students because it is something that is important and is something that we want to do if we are allowed to,” she said.
Goldberg said departments that faced cuts can still use discretionary funds.
“As for department cuts, we wanted to make sure the departments still gained year over year,” he said. “So, the departments that we cut are still up from last year significantly.”
IUSG overprojected revenue from the Committee for Fee Review, which allocates student mandatory fees to organizations like IUSG, Goldberg said. He said IUSG met with members of the committee to discuss potential revenue in the summer, which is why IUSG projected a higher budget.
Treasurer Aman Gandhi said the budget consists of roll-over funds from last year’s budget in addition to CFR revenue.
“How we came up with the total budget was the CFR revenue of $193,000, so that’s how much revenue we got for this year,” he said. “And then we added the rollover, so the $53,000 they didn’t spend (last year) and the interest fund with around $6,000.”
The IUSG Congress’ new term will commence on Oct. 6 with the inauguration of new representatives. The 2025 fiscal year budget runs through June 30, 2025, and the 2026 fiscal year budget will be adopted in the spring.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly reflect the remaining budget in the stop-gap lease initiative after budget cuts and correct the location of the makerspace.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to add context about the Lease-Gap Program Funding Act and rate negotiations with the Biddle Hotel.
