Great news! As from the academic year 2021-2022, there will be 209k extra available for the sports associations at the UT. Two student employees and our portfolio holder Sports and Arts, Lisanne Venix, made a new multi-year plan and did calculations for the sector sports. With a lot of help from the Sports Centre and the sports associations themselves, they managed to send all the new documents to the Executive Board in June. The Executive Board was very positive about the new plans and decided to approve the proposal for 209k extra. Hard work pays off!
The number of association athletes has grown by 16 percent in the past five years; faster than the student numbers on campus. Nonetheless, additional funding was left behind, even though there was an annual distribution. Every year the Student Union ran into this problem; closing financial gaps and associations that have to keep checking their financial plans. This multi-year plan will provide the sports associations with more financial stability. The Executive Board increases the annual contribution from 653 thousand euros to 862 thousand euros.
Sporting students will also pay a little extra for the UnionCard. The price of the UnionCard will increase by ten euros from September 2021, and the association charge will increase with about five euros. This price will be indexed every year. Lisanne does not expect that this will cause any problems; some associations might even charge less contribution, meaning that students spend roughly the same amount of money as last year.
Additionally, the Student Union knows for sure that a third sports hall will be build on our campus. It is however not sure when the construction works will start. Another goal of the multi-year plan is making sure that every sports association can train 2 times a week inside during the winter. In the upcoming months the team will look into the long-term effects of the corona crisis on the UT sports associations.
Credits to Utoday for their article on the sportsbudget.