What does CSES do for You ?
Every undergraduate engineering student at Carleton currently pays into the CSES budget. CSES is your engineering society, and you can get your money’s worth by participating in academic and social events, registering to compete in the annual Carleton Engineering Competition speaking with your program representatives about academic concerns, using the Textbook Library and Equipment Loan Program, and applying for provincial or national conferences. As a final-year student or a member of a club or design team, you can apply for funding for your capstone project or student group through the Kostiuk Engineering Funding Collective.
Regardless of how you vote in the upcoming referendum, we hope you drop by the CSES office (3390 Mackenzie Building) to chat with the CSES Council and Board of Directors, come to social and academic events, and keep an eye out for conference delegation applications on all CSES social media. CSES prides itself on being run by students, for students, and is always looking for ways to better support your time at Carleton.
Why Should Students Give More Money to CSES ?
To put it simply: by being 100% volunteer-run, we believe that CSES has the capacity to transform student funds into valuable services far more effectively than other organizations on campus. An additional $16 per term from every B.Eng student would not be enough to fund an academic support program or graduate services managed by paid staff, but by operating without payroll, all of the CSES levy can go directly to the base cost of bringing those services to life. By leveraging the existing volunteer base and grassroots support from CSES’ constituents, we can fund initiatives that support students and ensure that every penny goes back to you.
Due to rising costs and financial pressure on universities across Ontario, the academic support services available to B.Eng students aren’t as robust as they have been in previous years. With the existing budget structure, CSES does not have the capacity to bring about new programming to help students academically without making significant cuts to other services. The Carleton Academic Mentorship Program for Engineering and Design (CAMPED) is a new initiative in the proposal phase designed to partner first-year students with upper-year mentors to assist them in their adjustment to academics and life at Carleton. Passing this referendum would enable CSES to fund more academic supports through this initiative and solidify it as a resource for many years to come.
Cuts have already been made to CSES programming. Some of these cuts affect a smaller portion of our constituency, like reduced funding for formal events, but a significant reduction has been made to CSES’ contribution to the Kostiuk Engineering Funding Collective (KEFC), a pool that provides funding to the final year capstone projects for nearly all students in Engineering and Design programs, as well as to student societies and clubs. Without the capacity to increase that contribution back to its former level, students won’t have the same opportunity to get funding for their clubs and projects. If the CSES levy is not tied to CPI, the contribution that they make to KEFC may decrease further in future years if inflation continues to raise the cost of other core services.
Having to ask CSES constituents to fork out more money to services on campus, as the cost of living for students seems to increase every year, is not something that we take lightly. As sobering as it is to have to make this request, however, we firmly believe that supporting this referendum is one of the most powerful things you can do to secure a supported experience at Carleton for yourself and generations of future engineers.