500 signatures reached
To: QUT Registrar, Leanne Harvey
Give back our SSAF!
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QUT Student Guild is run for students, by students, but it is one of the most underfunded student unions in Australia. You pay SSAF fees every semester, but QUT keeps 75% of this money for themselves.
As QUT students, we demand that QUT gives back our SSAF. We ask that the SSAF Advisory Group allocates at least 50% of the annual SSAF pool in 2024 to the Guild so that it can:
- champion the educational rights of students.
- foster a vibrant and connected student community.
- construct a Disability Room on each campus.
- prioritise the health and safety of the student body.
- promote equality by amplifying diverse student voices.
We kindly request that you consider our petition and take action to rectify these disparities. PLEASE SIGN WITH YOUR STUDENT EMAIL!
We believe investing in the QUT Student Guild is an investment in students at QUT.
Why is this important?
QUT Guild currently receives 25% of student SSAF fees, which is below the national average, and well below the average SSAF given to student unions at Australia’s top universities. This discrepancy weakens the Guild's ability to provide essential services and independent support to the student body.
Does QUT even want a strong student union? Doesn't look like it...
Up until 2006, student unions received 100% of a similar kind of student fee – which meant that student money was 100% in student hands.
These days, it’s up to each university to decide how much SSAF their respective student unions receive. At QUT this is decided by the SSAF Advisory Group. Only one student, the Guild Treasurer, has a vote in these decisions.
QUT’s plan for the $9.3M in the SSAF you will pay next year essentially keeps things at the status quo, and indicates that QUT seemingly has no intention to hand over a larger percentage of student money back into student hands.
The Guild currently provides a wide range of services and initiatives to students, such as the Clubs & Societies programme, Foodbank, transport support, Academic Advocacy, events, our student representatives, independent student media, and support for our Collectives.
We believe student money should be in students’ hands. Without a SSAF allocation more aligned with other major universities in Australia, QUT students have a weakened student union and are at a huge disadvantage.
QUT is required by law to seek student feedback on how their SSAF is spent. QUT students have been given less than two weeks to give their feedback during one of the busiest and most stressful times of semester.
We urge all QUT students to sign this petition to have your voices heard. If you want to provide QUT with further feedback about how your SSAF should be spent you can email the Registrar ([email protected]) with your thoughts by COB Monday 13 November.