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$7,000,000.

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
  
  

Priorities for expenditure for 2021

The table below outlines how SSAF was allocated in 2021, addressing some of the issues raise by students and student representative bodies:

• 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.
   

Allocation for 2021

The allocation for 2021 is as follows: 

¹The split of SSAF funding for Swinburne on-campus and online student support remains at 55 per cent for on-campus services and 45 per cent for online services. During 2020 and 2021, almost all services moved online due to COVID-19, ensuring support for all Swinburne students. 

* The SRC and the Multifaith Facility and Chaplaincy Service moved from Student Engagement to Swinburne Student Life in 2021.