SAF Referendum faq

The Student Activities Fee (SAF) is a mandatory fee paid by all matriculated undergraduate students. Currently, it is $106.50 each semester for full time students. This amount was increased by $7 by a vote of the entire student body earlier this year!

The SAF is collected and disbursed by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) It goes towards several different places:

Clubs and organizations

Groups are funded through line-budgets, probationary budgets, and grants.

USG funds over 160 clubs and organizations with budgets ranging from just a few hundred dollars to up to $40,000 dollars.

Funded groups include the residence hall association and hall councils, sports clubs, cultural organizations, Stony Brook’s Volunteer Ambulance (SBVAC), Media Groups like the Statesman and Stony Brook’s Radio Station (WUSB), and many more!

Nearly $200,000 has been distributed to clubs and organizations this year through USG’s grant system!

Student Activities Board (SAB)

SAB plans events such as Wolfieland, Spooky Brook, Brookfest, Comedy Show, Roth Regatta, and more!

Payroll for USG’s staff

In order to effectively manage and distribute USG’s budget, and plan and staff our large-scale events USG requires both full time professional staff and part time student staff.

USG’s full budgets for this year and past years can be viewed here!

Though the SAF has always been voted to be mandatory throughout USG’s history, if it were to become voluntary, each student would have to opt-in to pay the SAF. Though it is hard to predict how many students would do this, USG’s budget would likely decrease drastically as a result of this. This would likely mean that many of the 160+ clubs funded by USG would lose their budgets, and many of USG’s traditions like Brookfest, Roth Regatta and Wolfieland would either not be possible or have very high ticket costs ($50+). Additionally, each semester, clubs host hundreds of events made possible by the student activities fee, and these events would likely no longer be possible if the SAF became voluntary.

Earlier this year, the SAF increased for the first time in eight years! This $7 increase was an important step to account for growing inflation and minimum wage in New York State. So far, the SAF increase has gone towards securing a highly voted-for artist for Brookfest, giving out more grants to clubs this year than ever before, and keeping up with minimum wage increases for our student staff. Next year, this increased funding will ensure that new clubs on campus are able to receive budgets from USG, and help existing club budgets to grow as well!