We know that some of you will be worrying about budgeting and finances when you come to university or return to campus after summer.
The rising “cost of living” is a real concern for everyone at HASU too.
As a “Not for Profit” organisation we’re committed to spending the money we bring in on activities that support our members to have an outstanding student experience.
HASU does not make large profits and its charitable status means it is not allowed to retain a large surplus.
In the wake of the current cost of living crisis we know we can’t continue to operate if we simply make things cheaper. Where we can, we will put on activities that people can enjoy for free. We want to make sure that no matter who you are or where you’re from, that you have the opportunity to meet people, make friends and make memories that last a life time.
Where it isn’t possible to make things free or cheaper, we’re costing out events appropriately to ensure we deliver value for money.
This year we’ve made the call to not run a Freshers Ball because, in order to do it properly tickets would need to be in excess of £35 to cover the costs of putting on the event. Instead we’ve got an amazing event booked for the 8th October, but with fewer frills, which helps us keep costs down. You’ll be able to see an act for £20 that would cost you two or three times more in other venues! We’ll announce the act in the coming days! We can’t wait to tell you!
And, don’t worry, Winter, Paddy’s and Summer Ball are still on for 22-23!
As part of our ongoing drive to build student community on campus, we are proposing a free weekly social event on Sunday mornings. Currently, there is very little activity taking place on campus at weekends. With the aim of delivering a regular Saturday night event in the Barn, we will provide balance by also adding a chilled Sunday morning, designed to create a sense of belonging on campus. We think you’ll love “The Breakfast Club” and we cant wait to share more details and invite you to the first one.
We’re unable to absorb the rising costs associated with all of the things we deliver, so prices for some activities will go up on previous years.
For instance, the increased cost of petrol has made offering a free bus service to and from campus for nightclub events unsustainable. This will contribute towards the staggering £30,000 we spent last year on bus transportation. As such its forced us to increase the cost of our tickets.
Last year we made a conscious effort to hold prices, and in some cases reduce them, as we reopened following the pandemic. Our Winter, Paddy’s and Summer Ball prices stayed in-line with prices from 2019, despite increased costs and we reduced the standard cost of entry on Wednesday’s to £6.50. Unfortunately, that meant HASU had to break into its reserves to cover the costs of the whole year of SU activity. We felt that was a price worth paying to begin the process of rebuilding campus community and delivering a quality student experience to students who’d spent large parts of their time at Harper under Covid lockdown. We’re still committed to delivering that quality experience and we’ll do everything we can to keep costs as low as possible.
But, we need your co-operation too. In order to keep costs low, we need to trim our expenses. For example, late purchasing of tickets for Wednesday nights means we have to estimate how many students will attend when booking security and doing bar staff rota’s. In turn, this can mean we’re over or under-staffed. So, next year we’ll be looking to stagger our ticket pricing. The earlier you buy your ticket, the cheaper we can make it. We believe that we can negate some of the rising costs associated with running our nightclub events by reducing waste and being efficient with our staff numbers.
We also need to reduce the costs associated with repairs for damage and cleaning, so we’d ask you all to respect the facilities that we all share.
We’re bringing back our “Quid’s In” promotion in the Welly every day for 22-23, to give you a chance to have a cheap, social drink in the early evenings, including drink deals on soft and alcohol-free options.
We’ve also renegotiated the booking fees to a level where we can absorb them again, so the price you see will be the price you pay.
What we really want to do is ensure that there is something happening on campus as often as possible. So, we’re hoping that our wonderful student volunteer leaders in sports clubs and societies will continue to deliver a wide range of amazing activities to get involved in. Our SU President and Vice President will be delivering events, trips, and activities and we’ll be working with our partners at the University to make sure there is a range of other activities taking place.
If at any time you’re worried about money and finance then we’d strongly encourage you to contact Student Services at the University, who can talk you through the support available to you.