No big spenders: JCRCs coveting college cash
Someone once told me that there are three things you should never talk about at dinner parties – religion, politics, and of course, money. Apparently, whilst nasal hair removal, fungal infections and the use of Viagra are happily debated nationwide, everyone makes a beeline for the beetroot crisps when it comes to talking dosh.
Personal spending habits vary wildly, so perhaps unsurprisingly students are starting to kick up a bit of a fuss on how JCRCs are spending their precious moolah.
Half of the student population seem to want college chairs to stash their hard earned funds into some form of York Gringott’s on acceptance, never to be seen again. As new allowances are allocated to colleges every year, it does seem a little unnecessary for treasurers to become Gollum-esque, hoarding their shiny pennies secretly, and greeting freshers with little more than bread and dripping on arrival.
On the other hand, the temptation for us all to take the Grenville Social Fund and, what I believe is termed “make it rain” can be too much. Blowing the budget a la supermarket sweep on elephantine sofas and X-Boxes in the first few weeks of term brings only brief satisfaction – when the springs are gone and the disks are scratched, we start to question just how great those initial investments were.
Yet, as one who tends to shamefully fall into the buy-shoes-and-then-only-eat-pasta category, I have to confess my preference towards the latter. Thankfully, I belong to a college which seems to think along the same wavelength.
When I first discovered Derwent was the poorest college, I embarrassingly assumed that the powers that be had just given way to the same kind of impulse purchasing that I’m so often prone to, splashing their cash on things in shiny packaging left, right and centre. Having taken everything into consideration though, I’ve decided that I’m really very proud to say that Derwent is a bit on the skint side. They inherited hardly any money from the previous year compared to other colleges, and they’ve spent the money on what it was designed for – I don’t think there’s any shame in that. Whilst I am the last person to be deftly hopping around the netball courts, I’m very glad that thanks to my college’s initiative, those who want to, can.
Of course Derwent aren’t the only one’s using the Grenville fund as it was intended, and I hope more will follow suit. Think of it, if you will, that your grandparents are giving you some pocket money. It’s fine to spend it all, because hopefully if you’re very good, they’ll give you some more. Just make sure that when they ask you what you’ve bought, it isn’t something you’re ashamed to tell them.
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