Three Years, Three Deficits: A.S. UCSD Pays the Price for Short-Term Thinking

A trend turning into a Crisis

What began as a six-figure shortfall has escalated into a crisis-sized gap: after a $178K deficit, then an approximately $500K shortfall, the latest figure of $613K marks an increasingly precarious financial trajectory for the student government that manages millions of dollars in student activity fees and runs programs ranging from campus events to services for student organizations.

What the numbers mean

Taken together, these three recent deficits total roughly $1.3 million. For an organization whose typical annual operating budget covers student programs, grants, and staff, this compound shortfall is not merely a bookkeeping problem. It threatens future services, staffing, and the core mission of supporting campus student life.

Key implications:

• Program cuts are likely. To close such a gap without a revenue increase, A.S. will likely need to trim discretionary spending, reduce grants to student groups, or consolidate programming.

• Reserves will deplete. If A.S. maintains a contingency or reserve fund, repeated deficits of this size will quickly erode it — leaving the organization less able to handle unexpected costs.

• Student fee pressure. With revenue streams constrained, A.S. may consider requesting higher student fees in future cycles or reallocating existing fee distributions. The chances of A.S. succeeding in such a measure are slim to none as a result of the UC Regents Tuition Hike

• Operational risk. Sustained deficits can affect staff hiring, vendor relationships, and the ability to commit to multi-year events or services.

Why the shortfalls keep happening

A significant contributor to A.S. UCSD’s recurring deficits is the extremely short tenure of its student leadership and staff, which naturally drives short-term thinking rather than long-term financial planning. Most A.S. positions — from executives to finance committee members — turn over every year, sometimes faster. With such rapid turnover, each new group of leaders tends to prioritize short-run, highly visible initiatives that benefit their single year in office. Long-term budget discipline, multi-year planning, and the less glamorous work of rebuilding reserves often fall by the wayside because those benefits won’t materialize until after current leaders have left their roles. This produces a cycle where yearly officeholders inherit structural problems, postpone difficult cuts, and pass even larger issues to the next cohort.

The result is a system that rewards immediacy: funding popular events, expanding programming, or approving new spending to show quick results, even when revenues or reserves don’t support it. Without institutional continuity, experienced financial oversight, or multi-year planning constraints, A.S. leadership often lacks the incentive and bandwidth to make tough, unpopular decisions like scaling back spending or restructuring programs. Over time, this structural short-termism compounds, helping create the escalating deficits seen in the past three years. 

There are no practical fixes to this problem. Students come and students go within a relatively short 4-years cycle and that will not change. As such, students must individually learn more about AS, and work together to hold the body responsible, lest future students pay the price.

A rare opportunity has come about as A.S. President, William Simpson, is only a 3rd year, and with the high likelihood of him running for and winning next year's term, he has the opportunity to start work on a more fiscally responsible multi-year plan, and to follow through on it.

Accountability and transparency

Repeated multi-year deficits underscore the need for greater financial transparency and accountability. Students and stakeholders should expect:

1. Clear reporting. Year-end financial statements that reconcile budgeted vs. actual revenues and expenditures, with explanations for major variances.

2. A corrective plan. A multi-year financial stabilization plan showing how A.S. will close deficits without undermining core services.

3. Engagement. A.S. Holds several town hall events throughout the quarter. They must do a better job advertising these events and more students need to attend.

What the A.S. leadership should consider

To stabilize finances and rebuild trust, A.S. leaders must pursue

• A comprehensive audit to identify recurring problem areas and any one-off events driving the current $613K shortfall.

• Cost-control measures focused first on non-essential spending and vendor renegotiation.

• Revenue diversification, including partnerships, sponsorships, grant-seeking, or small service fees for optional programs.

• A reserve replenishment schedule baked into future budgets to avoid operating without a buffer.

• Improved forecasting practices that incorporate conservative revenue assumptions and contingency lines.

Conclusion

Three consecutive years of deficits culminating in an $613,481 shortfall mark a critical juncture for A.S. at UCSD. The student body depends on A.S. to manage funds responsibly and to preserve essential services and campus life. How A.S. responds, be it through transparent reporting, responsible cuts, or revenue solutions, will determine whether student programs survive intact or face long-term erosion.