Students will be able to vote on a bill to increase the Student Activity Fee (SAF) by $15 from noon on March 26 to noon on March 28. Voting will also include a bill that proposes to automatically adjust the fee based on yearly inflation. Emory University’s Student Government Association (SGA) passed both bills unanimously on March 18.
If passed, Bill 57sl49 will increase the SAF yearly by the inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index, which is an economic measure of inflation maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The $15 increase would take effect in the 2025-26 academic year, while the inflation increase would take effect the following year.
If students elect to pass the bills, the Emory Board of Trustees must still approve the changes.
The SAF funds Emory’s undergraduate student organizations. SGA distributes the funds to College Council, Bachelor of Business Administration Council, Oxford College SGA, Belonging and Community Council and the Emory Student Nurses Association, all of which further distribute funds. Additionally, the SAF funds SGA and the six executive agencies under it: Student Programming Council (SPC), Club Sports, TableTalk, Emory Entrepreneurship & Venture Management, Media Council and Outdoor Emory.
The SAF for the 2023-24 academic year is $116. SGA previously reduced the fee from $100 to $82 for the 2020-21 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SGA President Khegan Meyers (24B), who authored both bills, said the flat increase will return the value of the SAF to where it was before COVID-19.
“There was this massive catch-up that we need to do for the past five years’ inflation,” Meyers said. “Student organizations are coming to us saying, ‘Everything’s getting more expensive. Everything is harder to buy.’”
SGA Speaker MaKenzie Jones (22Ox, 24C) wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that the increase is necessary to properly fund student organizations.
“The SAF increase is needed because we currently are not able to meet student organizations’ financial needs and want clubs to be able host their events without having to rely so heavily on outside sources,” Jones wrote. “The SAF is distributed by SGA to the executive agencies and divisional councils, who then distribute it to the clubs that are chartered under them, so this money is solely for students.”
SPC Co-President Colin Song (24C) wrote in a statement to the Wheel that the SAF increase would help alleviate food and merchandise shortages at SPC events.
“Our funding is not meeting what is required to create the scale of events we are passionate about programming,” Song wrote. “An increase in the SAF would allow SPC to put on events both of larger scale and greater frequency.”
Meyers stated that the Office of Financial Aid confirmed that the fee increase would be covered in financial aid calculations. He urged students to vote in favor of the change.
“It’s a step towards the future,” Meyers said.
