Where’s the funds SCSU? Student leaders rally for transparency amid funding delays

During the interview, SCSU disclosed there was an outstanding balance of “a little bit over” $5,000 owing to different clubs and DSA’s across UTSC. The funds were processed as of Nov. 17.

The clubs committee and the DSA committee held emergency board meetings between Nov. 10 to Nov. 17 in efforts to expedite reimbursements pending from as early as July 2025. Illustration By: (Hannah Arabella Gabling // The Underground)

A wave of frustration from student leaders has taken over the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) campus as clubs experience months-long delays in funding from the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU). 

The delays have resulted in students relying on personal money to continue organizing events, prompting the launch of #Where’sthefundsSCSU — a demand that the student union reimburse outstanding funds owed to Departmental Student Associations (DSA) and student clubs alongside addressing lack of communication. 

The campaign is spearheaded by Albert Ho, president of the Association of Mathematical and Computer Science Students (AMACSS). He previously served as the Vice President of finance for the association. 

Ho explains that SCSU follows a retroactive policy for funding where clubs “cannot submit a funding request before we incur the expense itself.” 

This policy is in contrast to the one adopted by University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) at St. George campus, who offer 50 per cent of funding upfront to clubs approved by the union, and the remaining half is reimbursed later. 

SCSU’s total revenue in 2023-2024 was approximately $8.4 million, a 5 per cent increase from previous year, reports The Varsity. 

“Many of my mentors and my past president, who were there, already kind of gave me a warning that SCSU is notoriously slow on their reimbursements,” Ho said. 

Ho started planning to collectively organize student clubs and DSA’s impacted by the funding delays through email, collecting testimonials and drafting a motion to raise this issue at SCSU’s Annual Members Meeting (AMM) on Nov. 26. 

“There was a mix between clubs having hundreds of dollars overdue, or clubs who don't have any issues with SCSU reimbursement, but they also express their support,” said Ho. 

The Underground independently verified the testimonials but chose to keep them confidential due to privacy concerns because many organizations were unaware of media coverage when expressing their opinions. 

SCSU ‘extremely important … but poorly run’: student leader says

During this delay, student clubs and DSA’s continued to table, engage with students, and take part in events like SCSU’s frosh week using personal funds, adds Ho.

The Law and Business Association (LBA) at UTSC also felt the strain from stonewalling of funds as the majority of their events await reimbursement. 

“One of our co-presidents spent close to $100 just on food for our professional developmental workshop. I spent over $120 on some food for the Women in Law networking event,” said Noya Magen, administrative assistant for LBA. Magen is currently in her second year as a business management specialist at UTSC. 

She adds that significant funding delays hinder LBA’s ability to serve the student body at UTSC because the organization hosts major moot competitions like Lawyerup and business case competitions. 

“These events are costly, we have to obtain prizes for winners, supply food and other refreshments as they are multiple-day long events, and decorations also aren't cheap when you need it for many rooms,” said Magen. 

As a result, LBA has redirected their efforts to receive funding from Student Life run by the UTSC administration as opposed to requesting money from SCSU. 

Magen believes SCSU is "beautiful and extremely important” but “the currently run SCSU has had too many scandals and poor activities.” 

“While they have done some good, I believe that their good is largely overshadowed by their problems,” said Magen. 

SCSU cites internal miscommunication, promises policy changes 

The Underground interviewed SCSU president Lalise Shifara and VP academics Maya Khan to understand what led to such significant funding delays. 

Some reimbursements that were overdue from the previous academic year were attributed to internal miscommunication during the transition period from last year's government, according to president Shifara. 

Transitioning for the new SCSU team was no less troublesome, with candidates raising concerns over a ‘biased’ electoral process for the 2025 presidential elections. Although the elections were eventually ratified following an emergency board of directors meeting over the summer. 

“There was no transition for the current team, so it was only myself, who was a previous executive alongside the full-time staff who were helping the executives transition,” said Shifara. 

During the interview, SCSU disclosed there was an outstanding balance of “a little bit over” $5,000 owing to different clubs and DSA’s across UTSC. 

Another reason that resulted in reimbursement delays was due to the DSA committee’s inability to meet in September or October. Despite callouts from SCSU “the committee was still unable to meet as the appointed board of director at the time was unresponsive and absent,” said Khan. 

The clubs committee and the DSA committee held emergency board meetings between Nov. 10 to Nov. 17 in efforts to expedite reimbursements pending from as early as July 2025. 

Khan reaffirmed that they will take active steps to streamline communication, including monthly meetings with DSA and clubs committee “in advance to ensure reimbursements are processed within the expected timelines.”

“We acknowledge that we should have made it clear through email or on our social media platforms with the DSAs and clubs that application review would be delayed until further notice, given the incomplete committee meet members,” Khan said. 

As of Nov. 17, there are no outstanding reimbursements as all approved applications are under processing, according to SCSU. 

The student union also moved to amend their funding policy which capped funds at $2,500 per event to $2,500 for the full academic year with priority for new applicants. According to Shifara, this change in policy is to ensure more equitable distribution of funds and encourage new clubs to apply.

The DSA funding policy allows $1,000 per event with a detailed budget required for events requesting reimbursement of over $500 following new amendments on Oct. 17, 2025. 

SCSU rejects motion to hear funding concerns at AMM 

Copy of the motions obtained by The Underground. Credits: (Albert Ho // AMACSS)

Two motions aiming to address the concerns outlined under the #WheresthefundsSCSU campaign were rejected by the union for the Annual Members Meeting (AMM) citing the motions were not within the jurisdiction of this meeting. 

Ho drafted the motions in alliance with several other student clubs and DSA’s on board. 

“The intention of it [the motions] is to not strong arm SCSU, the point of it is to raise these discussions and see what we can work on together,” 

The union digresses. 

“Not every improvement requires an annual members meeting vote, many can and will be addressed through operational updates, speaking to the executives or committee members, one on one, and better collaboration with student leaders,” said Shifara, in response to the reasoning behind rejecting the motions.

“I want to be clear that there is no intention to withhold funds from any student group. At the end of the day, my priority is to support students, strengthen our system,” said Shifara.