HUA Grants Only 22 Percent of Club Funding Requests Amid SAF Shortfall

The Harvard Undergraduate Association granted only 22 percent of student organizations’ funding requests due to a shortfall in Student Activities Fund revenues, according to HUA Co-Treasurer Tobias Elbs ’27.

Elbs announced during the HUA’s general meeting Tuesday evening that student organizations requested nearly $981,000 in total from the HUA through the fall semester grant application, but that the HUA’s Finance Team could only disburse about $215,500 to the 228 organizations it deemed eligible for funding.

Though clubs’ total requests neared a million dollars — similar to last year’s total — Elbs said this year, the Finance Team paid closer attention to whether the requests constituted eligible funding. After the review, this year’s eligible funding amount stood at roughly $516,800, as opposed to last year’s amount of approximately $744,000. Of that $516,800, the HUA could only grant about $215,500.

The HUA co-treasurers cut down the eligibility amount “by hand,” to ensure that “clubs get a fairer cut at the end of the day, and not just that clubs that apply for huge amounts of money, which is all ineligible, get a huge amount of money dispersed,” Elbs said.

In total, the HUA distributed approximately 40 percent of its total yearly budget of more than $538,000 to clubs via fall grants. Elbs said the HUA has set aside the largest percentage of its budget for club funding this year compared to previous years’ budgets.

“It’s already the biggest percentage ever that the HUA ever set specifically for club funding,” Elbs said after the meeting.

The median request across organizations was approximately $3,300, and the median disbursement to organizations was $743.

Elbs said while the HUA does not want to limit the amount of funding it gives to organizations, the body cannot control how much money it receives from the Dean of Students Office, which is highly dependent on the percentage of students who opt out from paying the SAF.

“The HUA doesn’t want to cut any club funding,” he said. If more students paid the SAF fee, “we wouldn’t have to cut any club and we could just look at what is eligible by the finance guidelines and by the constraints that the DSO gives us,” Elbs said.

“The opt-out rate has been higher than ever,” he added.

During the meeting, HUA Co-President Ashley C. Adirika ’26 said the HUA plans to increase its fundraising efforts to supplement the money it receives from the DSO.

Adirika referred to the fundraising as “one thing that we’re really excited about doing.”

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.

—Staff writer Adithya V. Madduri can be reached at adithya.madduri@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @adithyavmadduri.