The 2024-25 Federal Budget, and the preceding Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024, introduced a requirement for universities to allocate a minimum of 40 percent of the Students Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) they collect to student-led organisations.

SSAF was first introduced by the Gillard government in 2011, allowing universities to charge an additional fee paid semesterly and distribute this funding (more or less) however they see fit. University executives are the sole arbiters onas to the proportion of this funding to be allocated to sStudent unions and organisations — if they even decide to fund them at all.

In the pre-2006 golden age of Compulsory Student Unionism, students were required to pay membership fees directly to their union, and this expenditure was not bound by the restrictions now present in current SSAF legislation. Now, instead of this, the money our unions receive to support both service provision and student activism must first pass through an institution which it is often advocating against — the instability of such a system is obvious from a mile away.

This history would lead us to believe that the proposed 40 percent minimum requirement is nothing but a step in the right direction. Mandated and stable money in student hands can only be a good thing, right? I suspect there will be more to the story.

Most universities across Australia don’t currently struggle to meet this 40 percent requirement, based on their 2023 SSAF reports. The University of Sydney performs the best, allocating 84 percent across four student run organisations (Student Representative Council, University of Sydney Union, Sydney University Postgraduate Association and Sydney University Sport & Fitness).

ANU allocates 61 percent to student-led organisations with the University of Technology of Sydney (UTS) following at 53 percent, the University of Melbourne at 49.9 percent, and the University of Queensland at44.8 percent. The remaining money at each institution is typically allocated to other student services and support offered by universities such as orientation programs, libraries, and careers.   

A conclusion that this 40 percent requirement would therefore have a negligible impact on these student organisations, however, would be far too hasty. There’s an argument to be made that this requirement will in fact have a backwards effect on the ‘most stable’ of unions.

Looking at ANU’s recent SSAF history certainly helps us understand the fragile situation in which student associations across the nation remain. ANU’s Postgraduate and Research Students Association (PARSA) dissolved in 2023 following years of mismanagement, with all students now represented by the ANU Students Association (ANUSA). Following the merger last year, ANUSA was allocated PARSA’s remaining funding, but this did not continue into the new year. Two unions which in 2022 received a total allocation of 69 percent, are now represented by the one with only 55 percent. 

ANU also allocates SSAF to two student media organisations: 4 percent to Woroni and 2 percent to ANU Observer. Whilst ANU has signed on to three-year funding arrangements with both ANUSA and Woroni, meaning the annual percentage that each organisation is allocated is confirmed until 2026, they have not done so with ANU Observer.

One needs only to look at the experience of the editors at the UTS paper Vertigo to gain insight into potentially forecasted instability. In 2022, UTS management refused to allocate funding to the UTS Student Association (UTSSA) unless Vertigo’s budget was halved. It is clear the ANU is already positioning itself to make similar moves, with Observer’s September OGM reports not shying away from recognition that their continued funding remains in jeopardy. Luckily for ANUSA, student media at ANU is independent from the union and they will face no such coercion. The luck runs out there though, as it is becoming increasingly clear ANU is willing to whittle away at student organisation SSAF in any way that they can. USyd remains in a similar position, with funding for student publications Honi Soit and PULP relying on consistent funding being directed to their student unions, the SRC and the USU respectively.

This is all to say, university administrations already keep shifting the boundaries on what SSAF they are willing to allocate. Unions and other student organisations working within an increasingly corporatised tertiary education system being annually required to advocate for their own funding and engage in utilitarian criticism of their expenditure has already proven to be a difficult and futile battle. It is entirely possible that the 40 percent requirement is taken by universities as a mandate to provide nothing more – it becomes a ceiling, not a floor. Only time will tell whether this author’s speculation is true, as universities currently remain in discussions to confirm their 2025 SSAF allocations sometime later this year.

Pessimism aside, there are still plenty of universities that stand to benefit from these requirements. University of NSW falls just shy of the requirements currently allocating 37 percent to their union, Macquarie University allocating 11 percent, the University of Canberra a mere 7 percent, and the University of Notre Dame have only introduced SSAF this year. There is no doubt that the 40 percent minimum will strengthen the unions in these universities and mandate a greater level of accountability for university administration to report on where exactly their SSAF funding has been going otherwise.

It can be easy to feel as if the fight against university administrations is one in which we fight alone. ANU facilitates quarterly meetings with their SSAF recipient organisations in which we are expected to justify our continued benefit to the student population — combing through our expenditure and average engagement to prove we’re making the most of our funding. What I’ve quickly realised though, is that whilst separated across universities and institutions, student unions and organisations find solidarity in our shared instability. There are lessons to be learnt from the experiences of student organisations nationally, and in doing so I hope we can all be more well equipped for what is in store for the future of our SSAF. 

Charlie Crawford was Editor in Chief of Woroni in Semester 2, 2024.