How LSU spends on students a mystery

By PHILOMENA OKOLO & VALENTINA BARRERA

More than half a million dollars was spent on building renovations by the Langara Students’ Union (LSU) in 2023. Yet torn couches line the student lounge. A hot water dispenser has not worked for more than two years. And a café space that could offer affordable food remains closed.

Spending vs. student reality

The gap between spending and student experience is raising questions about how more than $6 million in annual student fees from roughly 11,000 students is being used.

Students contribute mandatory fees to the Capital Trust Fund, which in 2025 collected about $874,000 in levies and nearly $200,000 in interest. Financial statements show more than $500,000 was spent on renovation costs in 2023, but the statements do not say what work was completed.

Records also show about $120,000 invested in furniture and equipment in 2025. Students interviewed by the Voice said the LSU’s ground-floor lounge still has limited seating and worn furniture. They also said they have not seen some services commonly available at other colleges, including recreational amenities and electronics repair. 

“The staff office looks amazing,” said freedom of information researcher Stanley Tromp after touring the building. “But in student spaces, the couches are torn with little to no amenities provided.”

His comments reflect the gap between how spending is recorded and how it is experienced by students on campus.

Rajesh Vijayaraghavan, assistant professor at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, said this gap points to a known limitation of financial reporting.

“They [financial statements] show how much was spent, but not necessarily what was delivered or how it was experienced,” Vijayaraghavan said. “To understand how the money was actually used, one would typically look for additional documentation such as asset listings, purchase records, or project-level summaries.”

Vijayaraghavan said that kind of detail would normally sit outside the audited financial statements. 

“The finance division should have that information,” he said.

In a written statement sent to the Voice, the LSU described the spending as part of a planned investment.

The LSU said the 2023 renovation expenditure “reflects a significant, planned capital investment into the LSU building funded through the Capital Trust Fund.” The union said the work included improvements to student-facing spaces and infrastructure upgrades. It added that such spending “is not incurred annually but rather occur periodically based on operational needs and long-term asset planning.”

According the 2024-25 financial statement, an additional $51,474 in renovation costs was withdrawn from the Capital Trust Fund in 2025, again without any detail. The LSU said this was “not a new renovation project, but rather a year-end accounting adjustment made by the auditors to recognize deferred contributions related to prior capital expenditures.”

Rising costs, limited detail

Renovation spending is one visible use of the Capital Trust Fund. Financial statements also show rising costs in other LSU spending categories, though the records do not always show what those increases produced.

Graduation expenses rose to about $117,400 in 2025 from roughly $78,200 the year before, a 50 per cent increase, even as students pay separate graduation fees to the college.

The LSU said the increase reflects “both scale and enhanced student experience,” including more than 2,000 graduating students across a three-day event and the provision of higher-value graduate gifts.

Graduation spending is not the only student-life category where costs have increased. Campus life and events spending reached about $192,300 in 2025, up from about $130,400 the previous year.

Membership development and promotion spending rose to nearly $293,800, an increase of about $117,600 in a single year. The financial statements do not break down what that spending funded.

The LSU said campus events are “not discretionary spending; they are a core part of the LSU’s mandate.”

“They play a critical role in supporting student mental health and well-being, building community and a sense of belonging on campus, and ensuring equitable access,” the union said.

Based on previous reporting, six events were held in 2024 with a budget of about $130,400, averaging more than $21,700 per event. 

Oversight and accountability gaps

In B.C., student unions generally fall under the Societies Act, not direct college or university control. That means they are primarily accountable to their members through bylaws, elections, records and general meetings. While they must file annual reports and keep financial records, there is no student-union-specific oversight body under the Act. When disputes arise, members often have to rely on internal votes and meetings or pursue remedies through the Civil Resolution Tribunal or the courts.

In March 2026, B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey ordered a formal investigation into the Kwantlen Student Association under the Societies Act to determine whether funds were misused or other problematic conduct occurred. While the probe is underway, the province has frozen the association’s assets except for approved operating expenses, saying the move is meant to protect the organization and its members. 

According to the association’s financial reports, the KSA spent $947,848 on wages and benefits for elected representatives in 2025. By comparison, UBC’s Alma Mater Society paid its student directors $231,888 that same year, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) spent $210,667 on its seven elected student representatives, and the University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS) paid its directors $239,635. 

According to its 2024-25 financial statements, the LSU also paid its board of directors and other elected personnel $185,108, while wages and benefits for six staff that year were $843,335. 

Questions about student-union oversight are not new in B.C. Accountability challenges across student unions trace back to a 1999 policy change that made fee collection mandatory while limiting institutional oversight. Today, student unions receive guaranteed funding through mandatory fees, with accountability relying largely on internal governance.

In 2006, Douglas College withheld more than $1.5 million in student union fees after the student union failed to produce audited financial statements for three years, prompting a forensic review of the union’s finances and a lawsuit that sought to place the union into receivership.

More recently, in 2024, Kwantlen Polytechnic University administration raised concerns about proposed bylaw changes by the Kwantlen Student Association, saying they could restrict student oversight, limit the ability to call meetings and create financial risks.

The LSU told the Voice that all expenditures are guided by “a strong framework of governance, accountability, and transparency.”

“As a not-for-profit organization, our objective is not to generate or retain large surpluses, but rather to responsibly allocate resources in ways that maximize student value and impact.”

Vijayaraghavan said audits are designed to show whether financial statements are fairly presented, not to assess how effectively money is spent.

Its audits, conducted by Tompkins Wozny, follow standard accounting practices but do not assess how effectively money is spent.