Every year, Cornell undergraduates pay $310 towards the Student Activities Fee. This sum, across more than 15,000 undergraduates, totals more than $4 million every year. The Student Activities Fee (SAF) is the principal instrument by which student organizations are funded.
Undergraduate student organizations at Cornell receive funding in one of two ways: from the SA directly or through the Student Activities Funding Commission (SAFC). The SA recalculates and reallocates the SAF every two years, distributing it among directly funded organizations (called “byline” orgs) and to SAFC, which then controls distribution to the vast majority of student groups.
As part of a multi-year reform of student activities funding, the SA and SAFC – which are separate entities, both run by students – are engaging in massive overhauls of the funding system. Earlier this evening, the SA conducted a meeting among byline organizations to discuss the timeline for approvals this semester.
How does byline funding work?
Under the previous system, 28 student organizations – mostly those focused on large scale events and broad student support – receive a portion of every student’s SAF payment. For example, under the 2022-2024 funding system, the Cornell Concert Commission received $13.50 from every undergraduate.
Student organizations can apply for this funding after securing 1,500 signatures from the student body and fulfilling several requirements such as programming constraints. At the meeting this evening, the SA’s VP Finance, Rocco DeLorenzo, underscored that applications for the Appropriations Committee are still open until September 8th.
Byline funded organizations are subject to fewer restrictions than traditional student organizations, which must submit a budget to SAFC for approval. The SA requires that byline funded organizations report how they spend their money, with DeLorenzo stressing the importance of accurate accounting for expenditures.
SA plunged into succession struggle last semester, Kuehl named president.
However, unlike organizations that receive SAFC funding, byline funded organizations have more direct access to their funding, leaving some room for mismanagement. Byline organizations have been the source of controversy in recent years for misappropriation of funds, including to extra-campus political campaigns and movements.
Under the revised byline approval system, which DeLorenzo led over the summer, approval will take the entire semester, stretching across several hearings in front of the assembled SA. The committee on byline organizations will present a finalized plan by the last day of finals in December.
Only after these hearings and estimates will the SA present a finalized budget and SAF recommendation to Cornell President Martha Pollack, who must sign off on the Student Activities Fee before it becomes official.
SAF increase likely due to inflation, programming expenses
The SAF is the direct contribution of every Cornell undergraduate towards student organizations. Currently, the SAF is $310. Assuming every one of last year’s 15,735 undergraduates paid the whole amount, the SA would control the allocation of more than $4.8 million in student money.
Of this, 36.5% was sent to SAFC last cycle. As aforementioned, the overwhelming majority of student organizations receive funding from SAFC, not from the SA directly.
Other large recipients of the SAF include the Slope Day Programming Board, ALANA, the Cornell Sports Council, and the Convocation committee. None of these well-known programs are financed by tuition; rather, they all find most of their funding in the SAF which is a charge additional to housing, tuition, and other traditional expenses.
The SAF will not likely remain at $310. DeLorenzo cited inflation as causing significant issues, saying the SAF “has to increase, we can’t keep up with how expensive some things are getting.” Maintaining current programming, DeLorenzo said, is becoming increasingly difficult to say nothing of expansion.
The SAF will be finalized after byline organizations submit budget requests. The SA does not assign a price for the SAF and then distribute it among students; rather, the SA considers funding requests from each byline organization, modifies or accepts them, and adds them to find the new SAF.
The process of approving byline organizations will begin on September 17 and conclude with the semester.
