2021 student services and amenities fee allocation process

2021 SSAF Allocation Process

Swinburne University collects student amenities fees from domestic higher education students. In 2021, the total revenue from these fees is expected to be in the order of A$5,600,000, which is a similar amount to that received in 2019 & 2020, primarily driven by the ‘capping’ of Commonwealth Supported Places by the Federal Government.

Under the “Student Services, Amenities, Representation and Advocacy Guidelines” which are a condition of the grant from 2013, universities are required to have a formal process of consultation with democratically elected student representatives and representatives from major student organisations regarding the specific uses of the fee.

This consultation must include: 

• Publishing identified priorities for proposed fee expenditure and allowing opportunities to comment on those priorities by students as well as student associations and organisations; and
• Meeting with democratically elected student representatives and representatives from major student organisations at the university to consider priorities for use of the fee. 
   

Due to COVID-19, the following steps were taken to allow opportunities for student groups to comment on the priorities for 2021:

• Feedback was received from Swinburne Student Life, Swinburne Student Union and the Swinburne Representative Council on the proposed priorities.
• Proposed priorities were published on this web page for feedback
• Students were given the opportunity to provide feedback via the Swinburne Unlimited platform on all matters relating to what makes for great on-campus and virtual experiences
   

The 2021 SSAF Allocation was approved by the Vice-Chancellor on 13 December 2020.

Priorities for expenditure for 2021

The table below outlines how SSAF is to be allocated in 2021:

• Student health and wellbeing remains a key area of need for Swinburne, more so in a COVID-normal and post-COVID future.
• Further to the excellent advances over the past three years, including an acceleration in 2020 due to COVID, we will continue to explore ways of making all of our student services available to our online student community. 
• Additional Student Study Spaces remain an area of need as identified by students during the Swinburne Unlimited process in October/November 2020.
• Careers and Employment services remains a key priority as identified by students during the Swinburne Unlimited process in October/November 2020.
• The positive and constructive work of Swinburne Student Life is recognised, and it is proposed that the funding levels for this group remain the same as 2020 (with the exception of the funding that relates to the SRC and the Multifaith Facility & Chaplaincy service being moved under the management of Swinburne Student Life).
• The positive and constructive work of the Swinburne Student Union is recognised, and it is proposed that the funding levels for this group remain the same as 2020.
• The positive and constructive work of the Swinburne Representative Council is also acknowledged.
   

Proposed allocation for 2021

The proposed allocation for 2021 is as follows: 

¹Reflects a reduction of $226k from 2020 which is transferred to SSL to manage the SRC & the Multifaith Facility & Chaplaincy Service

²Reflects an increase of $226k from 2020 to manage the SRC & the Multifaith Facility & Chaplaincy Service