USB revenue stream slows
October 13, 2016
Most students at Diamond Bar High School spend money on the yearbook, an activity card and a variety of products in the student store, among other things. Yet few students know where this money goes or how it directly affects the student body.
Each year, USB starts off with a clean slate regarding its finances. Any profit made during the previous year goes into the general account, which as of Sept. 28 contains over $420,000. Those funds are set aside until needed.
According to the group’s financial records, USB holds 15 revenue accounts, though these are overshadowed by the 69 expense accounts it holds. In the last fiscal year, $316,868 was spent, resulting in a net loss of $21,132. When the expenses exceed the income, as was the case, money is taken out of the general account to supplement. USB has not made a profit or broken even for the past few years. Should this trend continue, the general account will keep shrinking.
“During football games, parents come up to the window and ask where does this money go? The school must be making a lot of money. We aren’t really making money because of all the expenses,” Gina Vita, who manages accounting tech in the finance office, said.
One of the biggest sources of revenue for USB comes in the beginning of the year as students buy their activity cards for $45. Last year, activity cards generated $109,418 in earnings. Over the past few years, activity cards and sales concessions have consistently been the largest source of revenue, with sales concession bringing in $102,852 in the past year.
“We’ve had times that we’ve had more income and revenue with more students buying activity cards, more recently we don’t sell as many for whatever reason so we try and encourage students to be involved and get the activity cards, but we work with what we have,” Activities Director Janna Van Horn said.
Clothing sales, Kaplan tests, and a portion of yearbook sales are also significant sources of revenue, raising $69,691 collectively. The remaining revenue consists of funds brought in through snack bar sales, general supplies sales, vending machine sales, gate receipts, the graduation video, donations, and interest. The total revenue in the last fiscal year was $295,736.
Last year, the support services account generated the most expenses, at $56,886. This account pays for any services needed at football games, other on-campus events and at the student store. Closely behind is the cost-of-goods-sold account, in which $55,284 was spent.
Fees associated with athletics, including CIF dues, transportation, and supervision, totaled $52,167.
A total of $2,824 was spent on Renaissance giveaways and $28,639 on Homecoming. Other expenses for campus activities come from the Social Activities account, which spent $1,040.
Each member of USB executive board has their own account and an assigned budget. They are given free reign over the money, so long as it benefits the student body. For example, food provided at IOC meetings comes from the IOC account.
Additionally, if a board member wanted to provide an incentive to a class for wearing purple, other than the raffled pizza party, they would take money from their respective account.
USB spent $1312 on their uniforms and $2148 was used to cover costs for USB to attend conferences.
“Things that aren’t fun to spend money on are our materials like butcher paper,” Van Horn said, “We have so many groups that come in and want to use our butcher paper and we have to limit the use because it’s expensive, and we spent [$6,297] on helium. All those expenses add up.”
