We, as Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) senators leading the Finance and Appropriations (FinApp) Committee, believe Georgetown University’s student life has become chronically underfunded, leading to discontinued programming, stifled creativity and institutional discontent.

Each semester, the Georgetown undergraduate student pays a $96.50 “Student Activities Fee” (SAF), $193 annually, to fund clubs and student life. All of the SAF goes into a single pool, which is then distributed by FinApp to club advisory boards (Student Activities Commission (SAC), Advisory Board for Club Sports, Media Board, etc.) through a budget application process, after which it is apportioned to individual clubs. 

Each year, when club advisory boards apply to FinApp with an ideal sum and proposed plan, the sum of these cumulative initial requests is hundreds of thousands of dollars greater than the total amount of SAF money. Last cycle, boards requested $221,192 more than was available to distribute. 

Additionally, growth in the SAF has not kept pace with recent inflation. For the Fiscal Year 2025 cycle (the 2024-25 academic year), the SAF totaled $1.27 million, representing an 18% absolute increase in the size of the SAF over four years. However, inflation increased by 21.40% and food inflation increased by 26% during that same time period. What does this mean for your favorite club? More expensive food for events. More expensive equipment for productions. More expensive transportation for travel. Thus, while the SAF has grown since 2020, it realistically hasn’t grown enough. 

When compared to its peers, Georgetown’s student life is clearly underfunded. This year, Georgetown named 10 institutions it considered to be most appropriate for comparison when reporting data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): Dartmouth College, Duke University, University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Brown University, University of Chicago and Columbia University. 

Among these institutions, eight levy a student activities fee in a manner similar to Georgetown. Seven of these eight schools’ annual fee is higher than Georgetown’s, ranging from $270 to $1560.

So, how do we begin to fix this?

First, the conversation around FinApp must change. Competition between club boards has become increasingly cutthroat. Stacks and stacks of articles are written each year in contemplation of why and how specific boards received cuts. And while we’re busy infighting, the pie keeps getting smaller. We’re fighting over scraps of what we used to have, or realistically, what we ought to have. We need to start thinking about how we can grow the pie.

We see a couple of options on how to do so. First, the university could increase the base amount of the SAF to one similar to that of similar universities, then peg that number to inflation. This would ensure, in the long run, that Georgetown students maintain a purchasing power equal to their peers.

This would entail a small increase in tuition, which many students feel is already too high. With the announcement that tuition will climb to over $71,000 next semester, it doesn’t seem exactly realistic that the student body would rally behind charging themselves more money. So, what are the alternative paths?

In February 2020, GUSA senators chartered a Student Empowerment Fund (SEF) which would allocate a portion of SAF income in pursuit of creating an endowed fund to support student life. In the original bill, $50,000 would have been drawn from the SAF each year until 2036, allowing Georgetown, assuming a 3% rate of return of the fund, to accumulate an over $1.3 million fund. 

Sadly, the program was quickly scrapped. In March 2020, after a protest, mainly from SAC, GUSA liquidated the SEF to increase the board’s funding. In 2021, FinApp chair Winston Ardoin (SFS ’21) decided again not to fund the SEF, citing the need to keep student life fully funded during a COVID-19 year. From there, the SEF was all but dead.

We think it is time to explore this idea again. It’s clear that our student life is desperately underfunded, and it will continue to remain that way unless students act decisively. Student life funding is one of the most important parts of university spending because it’s the most tangible. Georgetown’s extracurriculars are the hub of both social interaction and professional development, and thus central to our prestige. Without SAF reform, we’ll see a continued decline in student life and the value of a Georgetown education.

So, as we go through this semester, we hope to have these tough conversations with GUSA. All of us, students, senators, club presidents and board commissioners, must remain open-minded in seeking out a long-term solution for Georgetown’s student life funding.

Sometimes, things must get worse before they can get better. Together, we must consider enduring the short-term commitment of investment to earn the permanence of prosperity.

Saahil Rao is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. This installment is a continuation from his previous column “Institutions and their Ills.” This piece was co-written with other GUSA senators on the FinApp Committee. Han Li is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, Zadie Weaver is a first-year in the College of Arts and Sciences, George LeMieux is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and John DiPierri is a senior in the School of Foreign Service.