On Sunday, Nov. 2, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) unanimously passed Resolution 1.47 to increase the Student Activity Fee (SAF) by $15. The resolution, passed during the WSA’s weekly General Assembly meeting in Boger Hall, was proposed by Student Budget Committee (SBC) Chair Zain Punjwani ’26, SBC Vice Chair Asper Cisse ’28, WSA President Paul Quach ’26, and WSA Vice President Judy Liu ’26. It intends to account for the 6% rise in inflation since 2023.
The SAF is a mandatory component of the University’s tuition that goes toward funding student organizations (including WSA payroll), and is managed by the SBC.
The resolution also notes that, in the future, the WSA may vote to increase the SAF by 4% annually without requiring the student body’s approval. The University Board of Trustees will still be required to ratify any SAF increase.
“[This resolution] has been in the works since last year,” Liu wrote in an email to The Argus. “Inflation is still rising. When we raised the SAF the last time, we got a significant boost in funds for clubs, but we were always aware that it was still not enough. If we didn’t propose the SAF resolution and if we didn’t raise it this year, next year’s WSA and SBC in particular would have had a very difficult time funding club activities.”
SBC members also emphasized that the decision will not impact students’ financial aid. Although the resolution passed unanimously without any strong opposition from members of the WSA, some senators expressed concerns about reactions from the student body.
Importantly, a student’s financial aid package does not represent a fixed portion of tuition. Rather, it calculates the amount a student’s family is able to contribute. Therefore, increases to tuition do not affect the amount paid to the University by students that are on financial aid.
“As an FGLI [First Generation, Low-Income] student myself, I would never have proposed a resolution to increase a component of university tuition without first confirming that the increase would not impact students receiving financial aid,” Punjwani wrote in an email to The Argus. “Early on in the process of proposing this resolution, I confirmed with the university’s Finance Office that an SAF increase would not impact FGLI students.”
Punjwani and Liu said that the SBC is aiming for greater transparency with the student body this year.
“As someone who was on the SBC my freshman and sophomore year, I’ve seen different iterations of the SBC’s relationship with the student body,” Liu wrote. “In my role as VP, I would love to see the SBC strengthen its relationship with student clubs and the greater student body. I am hoping for understanding and awareness of why this $15 SAF [increase] is necessary.”
Liu also argued that the raise would have a practical benefit for the student body.
“Your clubs are more likely to get budget requests approved,” she wrote. “Your clubs will get more funding. Your clubs will get to engage in more meaningful and fun activities!”
Quach also mentioned the unanimous vote and potential opposition from the student body, highlighting that the WSA is open to queries and feedback.
“While we did not get any opposition from senators on this resolution, the WSA Finance Committee did account for any potential opposition by ensuring that the [members of the] committee were on the same page when communicating information about the SAF,” Quach wrote in an email to The Argus. “The WSA Senators were also looped in on the process of this resolution, as the committee mentioned the SAF Increase in our weekly committee reports, which are accessible to the larger campus, and we had the SBC present our first iteration of the WSA Financial Literacy presentation. And per our bylaws, both senators and the student body were given a week, following the Presentation of Resolution 1.47, to reach out with any comments, questions, or concerns.”
Under the passed resolution, University students who are not on financial aid will pay $405 starting in the 2026–27 academic year. The WSA will be holding its next weekly meeting in Boger Hall on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m., and is open to any queries during its Open Comments period, which starts at 6:05 p.m.
Grace Lee can be reached at glee01@wesleyan.edu.
Akari Ikeda can be reached at aikeda@wesleyan.edu.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misattributed a quote by WSA President Judy Liu to SBC Chair Zain Punjwani.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the scope of the WSA resolution; while the resolution provides that future SAF increases need not be approved through referendum, the University Board of Trustees must still approve them.
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