My Fellow Students:
Hello there! How’s it going? Enjoying your classes? Don’t lie to me; I know you think your lit teacher is a little crazy. It’s ok, you can be honest with me, I’ve been there, and done that. I know how unpleasant it is. Well don’t worry; everything is going to be fine. That Intro to Psychology class is pretty fun though, right? Don’t forget about Homecoming next week too, that’s sure to be a blast.
What I want to get into is something you all pay in your student bill, but you might not realize where it goes.
The Student Activity Fee (SAF) is a fee paid by every student, but why? What does it do? Well, here is a brief Q&A that should hopefully answer some questions you didn’t know that you should ask.
What is the SAF? SAF is a fee paid by every student that is intended to enrich the extra and co-curricular life of the University. This money is used to fund the many student groups on campus, as well as programs like child care, Student Legal Services and the free newspaper program.
Who Controls the SAF? The SAF is controlled by the Student Government Association (SGA), and administered specifically by the Student Senate and Student Communications Board (SCB). The SGA makes a budget annually of close to $500,000 of SAF. The Senate and SCB administer $344,900 and $150,000 of SAF respectively.
What does the SAF support? The SAF that goes to the SCB (wow, this is a lot of acronyms, even I’m confused) supports the Free Press and WMPG (the campus radio station, 90.9 and 104.1 on your radio dial), as well as administrative costs incurred by the SCB. The SAF that goes to the Senate is used to fund a variety of student groups. These groups include the Board of Student Organizations (BSO, which is comprised of 46 student groups), the Portland and Gorham Event Boards (which put on events on the Gorham and Portland campuses), Gorham TV, the Leadership Development Board, Maine PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) and USM’s annual art publication, Words and Images.
How can I access SAF? There are many ways to access SAF. For one, just go to any free GEB or PEB event! They are paid for with your SAF money, so you are using it by going! Another way would be to join a student group in the BSO that uses SAF to go on trips and conferences. Go skydiving with the outing club, or go to Beijing with the Model United Nations Organization. The opportunities are endless. Or, you can make a proposal to the Student Senate to get up to $250 per person to go to a conference or experience that will be a benefit to yourself and the university. For example, a group of students have come to the Senate each year seeking assistance to make an alternative spring break. Last year they traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist in hurricane relief efforts and brought their experiences back to the University to raise awareness of the situation.
How can I have a say in how SAF is spent? Apply for a seat in the student senate (contact Jen Cote [email protected]), or run for a position in the Student Government Association in the spring. You can also get involved in a variety of positions in different groups on campus. The simplest thing you can do to have a voice is to just vote in the SGA elections. The SAF is a large chunk of change, and students actually control how it is spent. It’s your money, don’t you want to make sure its not being wasted?
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Speaking of a good time, I’ll see you at speed dating on October 5 right? Nice!
All the best,
AJ Chalifour
Student Body President