Services & amenities fee

The SSAF is paid by nearly all students and each have their own views and needs. Some may use a lot of services and support one year and less the next - by combining the SSAF and allocating out to a group of service providers we are able to offer many services to meet needs, and offer them by different groups each speaking to different student cohorts or groups, and to different priorities/interests throughout their time at ANU.

There are well over 100 programs, clubs, functions, events, and services funded by your SSAF. The benefit of the SSAF funding model is to use the contributions of many to fund as many programs as possible to support different students who have different needs.

Many of SSAF funded services and programs are 'silent' - you don't realise they are there until you need them. The SSAF model allows funding to areas which cannot be funded through centralised funding due to legislation or education guidelines (such as food, legal advice, media outlets).

Once the data gathered from the 2023 survey has been compiled it will be published through this webpage. If the response rate is too low and it could be reasonable to identify a student or small group of students from the survey, we will choose to not publish the data and advise of this outcome on the website.

The Budgets will need to:

• Be developed in line with the legislation and guidelines for the use of SSAF (https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-loan-program/approved-hep-information/student-services-and-amenities-fee).
• Demonstrate the programs and services which will be available to students, as well as estimates of the number of students or contacts for each service/program (adjusted based on the type of service/program being offered).
• Demonstrate how the Budget has been informed by the student feedback received through the survey. Organisations are encouraged to provide details of how their own data (e.g. surveys, feedback on programs) has informed their budget development.
• Be provided to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, for review within 30 days of the advice of budget allocation to inform the preparation of a contract or unit performance agreement.
• Throughout the year service providers will report performance against their budget on a quarterly basis, advising of any shifts in programs or services.

This process has been adopted because it reduces the administrative and drafting burden of a bidding process, allowing organisations to develop a budget to their priorities for the year. The University requires oversight of the final budget to meet contractual obligations and its oversight obligations on the use of SSAF. 

The amount of SSAF available is unknown until students pay the SSAF each semester. Instead, the University models student numbers to estimate the amount of SSAF likely to be available and this becomes the allocation amount.

If the fees collected in 2022 are less than what the University has estimated, we will again do all we can to cover the difference so that service providers have funding certainty.

Some examples of what SSAF funds were spent on for 2022 so far are:

• ANU Careers launched a career voyage online tool to help student who struggle to verbalise their career ideas, over 50 students have used this tool already.

• Scholarly Information Services have a writing centre to assist with academic writing, referencing, interpreting assignment questions, reading strategies, time management, note-taking, exam preparation and presentation skills.

• ANU Student Association (ANUSA) has provided over 500 various financial grants including emergency grants, grocery vouchers and emergency accommodation.

• Woroni released two editions.
• The Observer released multiple articles online. 

• ANU Sports ran 10 ANU Sport programs hosted across the year which are subsidised or free of charge (on campus and interstate).

• The Engagement and Success Team successful delivery the ACT Youth Week Grant "Cooking and Conversations," 80 students participated, and the events garnered attention from media and radio locally.

• Postgraduate and Research Student Association (PARSA) assisted 232 students (across mental health, academic, migration, legal, accommodation and financial assistance).

The SSAF is a fee-based system, where the money collected is the money available for allocation. As student numbers rise and fall, so does the amount of SSAF available. As the University makes the estimate of student numbers, we feel it is our obligation to provide an amount of funding to meet the estimate, and have diverted funding from other student services and programs to pay for the SSAF difference in the past. 

The benefit of the percentage allocation model is that budgets can be developed by service providers that are scalable - they know the percentage they will receive of the estimate, and the University will do everything it can to provide that amount.

The SSAF is intended to fund a variety of student programs and services that would not normally be funded through a university's operating costs. At ANU a very small portion of the funding (about 10% annually) is used to fund programs run by ANU services, reducing the administrative and operational costs to run services and programs and capitalising on the expertise and experience of ANU staff.

A difference in the system is an ANU service provider is responsible to the organisation to deliver outcomes for the funding they have been provided, which forms part of the unit and individual performance agreements. These will be informed by the Budget the services jointly outline.

External service providers (ANUSA, PARSA, ANU Sport, Woroni, ANU Observer) sign a contract with the University to provide services in exchange for the funding. The Budget provided by these service providers will form the performance measure for the contract (i.e. to deliver these services/programs outlined).

In 2023 the ANU services will provide the same budget detail as required from all service providers, though note that this will appear differently as administrative costs and most staffing is covered within the operational costs of the ANU service.

In 2022 a Student Services Council (SSC) was established to improve the administration and decision-making that reflects the student body interest. The SSC plays an advisory role on all matters pertaining to the SSAF, its allocation and use across different services provided to the ANU Students; and it plays a key role in managing SSAF reporting and acquittals. The SSC recommends expenditure to both the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience).