Students' union financial situation is unsustainable, U of Regina president says

The president of the University of Regina says the institution is stopping its collection of fees for the University of Regina Students' Union's (URSU) because an auditor's report showed URSU's finances were unsustainable.

The U of R announced the move last week, with it to take effect on Aug. 31.

The URSU financial report for 2023-24 says the "union's unrestricted net assets are in a deficit position of $1,368,362 as of April 30, 2024."

U of R president Jeff Keshen said URSU has been running increasing deficits.

"The auditor pointed to an ongoing material uncertainty, which in auditor's language means that the financial sustainability of that organization is in serious question, meaning that they may not be able to pay their bills, they may not be sustainable," Keshen said. 

Kenshen said the auditors found URSU is "depleting any reserves that they have." He said the university has a responsibility to students to ensure the fees they pay are used responsibly. 

The decision to not collect fees will effectively shut down the union. URSU president Mahad Ahmad admitted the union is in a financial crisis, but said the organization has been addressing the issues. He said URSU has made significant changes in the last year to improve its financial bottom line and that will be reflected in the next audit report.

Ahmad said URSU has laid off staff to cut expenses and will open a coffee shop soon to increase revenue.

Ahmad said the university should wait for a new auditor's report before deciding to stop collecting fees for the union.

"Why can't you wait two more months and our own recent audit ordered for financial year 2024-25 will be out and then you can see what we have improve?" Ahmad said.

"What we believe is that we will be positive almost $400K this year, [but] only if we receive our funds."

URSU put forward an emergency financial plan, but it was rejected by the university.

"We were never satisfied that that plan that they put forward, which we actually hadn't really seen much details of that plan, were going to address the material uncertainty that that organization has," Keshen said.

Besides the financial troubles, URSU is also facing a student petition to dissolve the union.

Keshen said that issue should come to a head in the coming weeks.

When the decision to stop collecting fees for URSU was announced, the university said it "wishes to assure students that core student services will continue in the Fall 2025 term, as will the collection of student fees that fund those services."

"The necessary arrangements will be put in place over the coming months," the statement said.

Asked how that would work, Keshan was not specific.

"We will be supporting as necessary, or a replacement of the current URSU leadership, those services which are essential for students," he said.