When the 19th Undergraduate Council sat down this year to draw up a budget, it found less money than the year before waiting for it in the term bill fund. The same thing happened to the 18th council before it, and the 17th council before that.

For every year since 1983, the council has been funded exactly the same way: a $20 optional term bill fee. The problem, council members and administrators say, is that $20 doesn't buy what it used to.

To be precise, it only buys 60 percent of what it used to. Adjusted only for inflation, the term bill fee should now be $33.50.

But the term bill hasn't kept pace with inflation. It hasn't changed a cent.

In addition, the number of student groups has risen quickly--especially over the last few years.

"The number of groups we fund has gone through the roof, plus the cost of everything has gone up," representative John P. Marshall '01 says. "We've been working on borrowed time for a couple of years."

The council now finds itself trying to help fund upwards of 170 student groups, at the same time as it hopes to attract a big-name band to Springfest, and provide a variety of other services--all with less and less money.

"The student groups are the lifeblood of the campus, and the council wants to do everything it can to facilitate that," says three-term representative Steven Chung '01.