Seattle University students pay a premium to attend the institution: for the 2025-26 academic year, the undergraduate cost of attendance before financial aid was nearly $80,000. Tuition has risen for the past several years—it rose 4.48% for the 2024-25 year and 3.96% this year—and will likely increase again next year. For the 2026-27 academic year, a yearly Student Activity Fee (SAF) of $198 will be added alongside a total tuition increase of 2.7%.

This new fee is aimed at increasing funding for campus life activities. 40% of the money will be distributed to the Student Events and Activities Council (SEAC), another 40 will go to the Student Government of Seattle U (SGSU) and the last 20 will go to the Athletics Department. 

Even though $198 is a relatively small amount compared to what students already pay to attend, it will bring in a large amount of money. Seattle U’s undergraduate population is around 5,000 students; combined, the fees will bring in close to one million dollars. 

For SEAC, that increase could be particularly helpful. While their Winter Ball in February was remarkably successful, the same event was canceled in February 2025 due to a lack of funding. SEAC could only afford to host one large event: either Winter Ball or Quadstock. 

Similarly, this February’s Winter Ball came at the expense of spring quarter’s annual Quadstock. The latter can cost up to $100,000 to throw when hosted in the quad, according to Senior Vice Provost for Academic and Student Affairs Tamara Herdener. With the increased funding from the SAF, SEAC won’t have to choose between the two.

“This year’s Winter Ball was extremely successful. It was a great event, so now we’re thinking about how they can get a bigger boat, offer discounted tickets, and finally have the funding to offer Quadstock every year,” Herdener said. 

Clubs will likely see positive impacts from SGSU’s increased funding as well. Fundraising requirements were recently lowered; clubs have to raise only 10% of any money they request from SGSU, rather than 50% as in the past. In addition, clubs may start to receive baseline funding to use at their discretion. 

“The funds will allow us to provide, hopefully, seed funding for all clubs. There will be more rules—our finance bylaws will be expanded, but the hope is that clubs will start the year with around $1,000 and use it for fundraising, for snacks, for events, merch, whatever they want,” SGSU President and Third-year Criminal Justice major Diego Gonzalez said. 

The athletics department, which accounts for the last 20% of the funding from the new fee, will allocate it to enhancing the student experience at its events. This funding will potentially be spent on swag, supporting the Seattle U pep band and providing transportation to games when they occur at places like Climate Pledge Arena. 

“It’s not going to the players. It’s going to students who attend those events so they can have an enhanced experience and cheer on our teams,” Herdener said. 

Not everyone is pleased with the tuition hike; attending Seattle U is already a costly experience, and 95.8% of undergraduate students receive some form of financial aid. $198 is a relatively small amount compared to expenses like tuition or housing, but still, it’s more money for students to pay next year. 

“I’m not exactly happy with the new fee,” Sophie Flamoe, a fourth-year marketing and creative writing major, said. “On the club side of things, extra funding from SGSU sounds nice, but it’s still an increase to what we pay on top of the yearly increase.” 

Still, Herdener, who worked with Gonzalez to design and propose the fee to Seattle U’s Board of Directors in fall 2025, says the fee was necessary to avoid harming other aspects of campus life. According to her, increasing funding for SGSU, SEAC and Athletics would have required moving money from other on-campus services. Gonzalez similarly says that he believes the SAF will bring more benefits than drawbacks. 

“As a low-income student, one of my priorities is making sure that the people who go to Seattle U can afford to go here and stay here. I think it’s a worthy investment because it’s going to allow us to do so much more,” Gonzalez said.