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Student Services and Amenities Fee
- What is the SSAF?
- What are SSAF funds used for?
What are SSAF funds used for?
SSAF funds are used to support:
- student advice and advocacy services
- legal services
- publications
- student orientation and Welcome Program activities
- sports and recreational activities
- careers and employment advice
- student representative organisations, clubs and societies.
Before annual allocations are made, formal consultation and endorsement by student organisation representatives occurs via the University Executive (UE) Education Committee.
2024 SSAF allocation
The estimated SSAF income for 2024 is approximately $21.9 million. It is proposed that 2024 funding is separated into:
- base funding (approx. $17.9M), which is recurrent funding provided to student representative organisations, the Careers Centre, and the Office of Student Life
- contestable funding (approx. $3.9M), available to student representative organisations, faculties, and professional service units for one-off services or amenities projects.
Student consultation
The proposed 2024 SSAF budget will be tabled at the September meeting of the UE Education Committee for endorsement. Representatives from the University’s four student representative organisations will be invited to provide feedback on the proposal at the meeting, which provides a formal consultation point regarding the 2024 SSAF.
Applications for base and contestable funding will be submitted in October 2023. All applications must include information about how the proposal aligns with the student priorities in the SSAF Student Survey, which is a key aspect of the University’s consultation with students about the SSAF.
Base and contestable funding applications will be submitted to the UE Education Committee at its November meeting for endorsement. Committee members and attendees from the University’s student representative organisations will be invited to provide feedback on the applications recommended for funding at the meeting.
2023 SSAF allocation
The estimated SSAF income for 2023 is approximately $20 million. We separate this into:
- base funding, which is recurrent funding provided to student representative organisations, the Careers Centre, and the Office of Student Life
- contestable funding, available to student representative organisations, faculties, and professional service units for one-off services or amenities projects
- the capital sinking fund, available to student representative organisations, faculties, and professional service units for infrastructure projects.
Approximately $17.1 million is allocated to base funding, $2 million allocated to the capital sinking fund, and the remaining funds are allocated to contestable funding in Semester 2.
Student consultation
In July 2022, the DVC (Education) Portfolio held a consultation session with representatives from the University’s student organisations regarding the 2022 acquittal and 2023 budget allocation process, including information on updated Commonwealth reporting requirements.
In August-September 2022, the SSAF Student Survey was held. The survey identified student priorities for funding and was provided to SSAF recipients to link funding applications with the survey outcomes.
In October 2022, the 2023 SSAF budget and allocation process was endorsed by the UE Education Committee. The budget paper included a proposal to increase the portion allocated to base funding, which was also endorsed. Representatives from the University’s student organisations were involved in the Committee discussion about the budget, allocation process, and base uplift, providing a formal consultation point regarding the 2023 SSAF.
Following review by the SSAF Budget Allocation Committee, applications for base funding were provided to the December meeting of the UE Education Committee for endorsement. At this meeting, two additional items regarding SSAF infrastructure funding were discussed with student organisation representatives.
At the July 2023 meeting of the UE Education Committee, the SSAF Budget Allocation Committee proposed a list of contestable funding applications for consideration and endorsement. The item also included a discussion regarding the 2024 SSAF budget. Student organisation representatives, as members or attendees at the UE Education Committee meeting, participated in the discussion.
2023 SSAF by recipient
The following table shows the allocation of the 2023 SSAF base funding by recipient:
| Students' Representative Council (SRC) | $2,371,888 |
| Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) | $2,035,470 |
| Sydney University Sport & Fitness (SUSF) | $5,741,761 |
| University of Sydney Union (USU) | $6,189,021 |
| Student Support Services (Careers Centre) | $384,539 |
| Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Life) | $432,150 |
| Total | $17,154,829 |
2023 SSAF by key area
The following table shows the allocation of the 2023 SSAF base funding by the service and amenity key area:
| 1. Health Services | $70,000 | |
| 2. Clubs or other associations |
a. Sporting | $5,624,029 |
| b. Internal student politics and advocating students’ interests | $2,544,126 | |
| c. Gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or nationality-based | $20,000 | |
| d. Areas-of-study related e.g. law | $0 | |
| e. Other activities e.g. music, debate, chess, art | $629,375 | |
| f. Other | $3,072,416 | |
| 3. Employment/career services | $384,539 | |
| 4. Legal aid | $493,842 | |
| 5. Food or drink services | $105,000 | |
| 6. Helping students secure accommodation | $0 | |
| 7. Financial or insurance advice for students | $0 | |
| 8. Libraries and reading rooms | $0 | |
| 9. Study skills | $108,878 | |
| 10. Advising on matters arising under the University’s rules | $795,918 | |
| 11. Student Orientation and Welcome activities | $1,711,535 | |
| 12. Helping to meet the specific needs of overseas students | $220,932 | |
| 13. Student produced media | $1,374,239 | |
| Total | $17,154,829 | |
2022 SSAF allocation
In 2022, the SSAF supported the delivery of a variety of campus life activities, food and drink services, student-produced media, career advising services, sporting and recreational activities, legal aid, health services, and student clubs and societies.
2022 SSAF funding was separated into three components:
- base funding
- contestable funding
- infrastructure funding.
The 2022 SSAF budget and allocation process was endorsed by the UE Student Life Committee. The Committee included members from the University’s four student representative organisations, providing the formal consultation point regarding the 2022 SSAF. This information was also provided to the UE Student Consultative Committee for noting.
In December 2021, the SSAF Budget Allocation Committee endorsed the successful 2022 base and contestable funding applications.
In May 2022, applications for SSAF infrastructure funding were submitted. Following a review by University Infrastructure, a shortlist of recommended projects was submitted to the December 2022 UE Education Committee. Student organisation representatives as members or attendees of the committee participated in the discussion regarding the shortlist, which was endorsed by the Committee. Throughout 2023, University Infrastructure worked with student organisations to undertake a full scoping and costing of the projects. The project shortlist was also tabled at the UE Student Consultative Committee for noting.
You can find more information about the SSAF in 2022 in the SSAF 2022 allocation report.
SSAF student survey
Each year, the University conducts the SSAF Student Survey to receive student feedback about how the SSAF can best support students. The outcomes of the survey are provided to SSAF recipients, who are required to highlight how each of their proposed services or amenities align with the survey results as part of their funding application.
Find out more information about the results of the 2022 and 2023 SSAF student survey.
Last updated: 21 September 2023
