As students prepare for the 2025-26 academic year, they might notice a $146 fee for student activities as part of their fall tuition bill. This fee is charged every semester to full time students, providing funding for different events, traditions and organizations on campus. Part time students are charged $73 each semester.
Vice President of Student Life Jon Dooley described funds from student activity fees as being separated into three categories: student organizations, student traditions and administrative support for student activities.
The Student Government Association receives a large portion of the fee — $440,000 annually. They allocate this money to various organizations and activities through funding requests.
Student organizations can submit funding requests through PhoenixConnect. These requests then move to SGA’s finance board, which is made up of nine voting members and the Vice President of Finance Ian Brecker, who only votes if the board needs to break a tie. Together, they approve or deny funding requests from Elon’s more than 250 student organizations.
Brecker’s position is to act as a bridge between organizations who are requesting funding and the rest of the finance board. He leads finance board meetings by informing other members which organization is requesting funding, what it will be used for and how much it is.
“My position is really just to display what is being asked, why it’s being asked and by who, and if it’s a split vote, say that we have eight members, like one is absent at the time, then I am a voting member there, but only for a vote split,” Brecker said.
Once a club submits a funding request, the finance board reviews the request, and if the request is greater than $5,000 it is brought to the Senate to review and approve.
SGA’s budget is divided into a quarterly system, with a budget cap of $80,000 per quarter. Brecker said SGA distributes funds to organizations and campus events, and leaves some money in a reserve fund. He said the cap — which was introduced in the last academic year — leads to funds being distributed more equitably.
“We have to allocate that amount of money equitably to all the clubs via the size, the activity and via the event itself,” Brecker said.
In addition to SGA, the Student Union Board, Student Media Board, Liberal Arts Forum and Elon Volunteers also receive funding from the student activity fee.
Elon News Network is overseen by the Student Media Board and receives part of its funding from the student activity fee.
Campus traditions also receive support through the activity fees. These include Late Night Elon, orientation programming, “Burst the Bubble” classes, Elon Day and Homecoming activities. However, established traditions aren’t the only campus activities that receive support from the student activity fees.
“In that additional campus activity programming is residential neighborhood programs,” Dooley said.
Campus wellness initiatives, such as Elon Outdoors, and inclusive excellence initiatives, such as the Ripple Conference, also receive funding from the activity fee. Other parts of the activity fee funding go to what Dooley describes as administrative support. This includes the upkeep and maintenance of the transportation fleet, as well as staffing for different events.
Dooley also provides information to the Student Life Committee about how the student activity fee is being used. The Student Life Committee is made up of students and faculty who oversee the bylaws of campus organizations and the rules and regulations concerning extracurriculars on campus.
“What I’ll do is I’ll just share with them every year here’s what we’re projecting for the student activity fee, and just a reminder, here’s how we’re allocating that,” Dooley said.
Dooley said the cost of student activity fees can be changed by the Board of Trustees, if SGA requests a change. Student activity fees last changed in the 2018-2019 academic year, increasing from $136 to $146.