Currently, student leaders in search of fundinghave a complicated course to navigate.

The President's Public Service Fund Grantssupport undergraduate public service activities onand off campus. These grants are for "one-time,non-recurring special public service projects,"according to the Harvard College Handbook forStudent Organizations.

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural andRace Relations (HFIRR) awards more than 40 grantseach semester to student groups that "facilitatethe understanding and sharing of racial and ethnicperspective," according to the handbook.

There are also other types of foundations, someof which are endowed.

The Office for the Arts provides grants toundergraduates, graduate students, faculty andstaff for new artistic projects. A committee ofthe Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), theHarvard Council on the Arts, awards grants "toencourage undergraduates' own original creativework," states in the Handbook.

In addition to these established foundations,Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III says hisoffice has $8,000 to distribute to student groups.

He says he provides this money to groups on a"case by case" basis at "his own discretion." Eppsadds that he uses this money mainly for peertraining groups, women's leadership groups andgroups concerned with security issues.

Cash from the Council

The Undergraduate Council is also a source offunding for student groups, and many studentleaders praise the council's attempts to almostsingle-handedly finance student organizations.

But they say without University support councilgrants cover minimal percentages of student groupbudgets.

"The U.C. has been extremely generous to us intheir grants," says Daniel L. Tobey '99, treasurerof HSPDS. "But a generous U.C. grant only covers asmall fraction of our expenses."

The council awarded $1,000 to the team lastyear, according to council records.

Some of the funding for student groups comesdirectly from the student body. Students have theoption of paying a $20 student activity fee ontheir term bills, and some of the money collectedfrom this goes to student group grants.

For the 1997-1998 year the council received$126,500 from termbill fees and spent $104,693.84on student groups.

"Every student group fills out an applicationlisting their expected need and their budget forthat year," expkains council President Beth A.Stewart '99.