Students attending Iowa State University pay a student activity fee of $49.00 per semester. This generates over $2.6 million in fee revenue, which is distributed to student organizations and services all across campus by Student Government. The two most common ways to receive funding from Student Government are through the annual allocations process or senate legislation.

Almost all funding provided by Student Government is bound by our Priorities and Criteria document (P&C). The P&C – linked below – sets guidelines for both what Student Government is able to fund and what types of organizations are eligible for funding. Please send any questions to stugovfinance@iastate.edu.

Fiscal Year 2025 Information

  • If your organization meets all of the eligibility requirements below, please complete a Funding Application
  • If your organization would like to request changes to line items from an existing funding request, please complete a Line Item Transfer Request
  • If your organization would like to request that previously-allocated the funds be carried over to a new fiscal year, please complete a Carryover Request

Each organization that is requesting funds from the Student Government is required to meet the following requirements:

  • Organizations must demonstrate at least $20 income per fiscal year per student member as listed by the Student Organization Database unless the organization has been in existence for less than 365 days. 
  • The organization shall be officially recognized by Student Engagement.
  • The organization shall be open to all activity fee-paying students and spouse cardholders.
  • The organization shall not contribute or accept financial or material support to or from, any political party or campaign, endorse a political party or candidate, other than for Student Government elections.
    • Campus publications shall be able to endorse candidates for any office in sections clearly marked as opinion sections.
  • The organization shall not be a college or residence area Student Government constituency council.
  • The organization shall not have more than half of its members receive academic credit for membership.
  • The organization shall not receive funding from one or more academic department(s).
  • The organization shall not primarily exist to assist students in attaining an internship or a scholarship.
  • The organization shall not have a mission consistent with or directed towards a particular academic program or major at Iowa State University.
  • The organization's budget proposal must be organized by line items, all of which must have justification and a specific cost estimate.

Student Government has determined four classifications for organizations requesting funding. In order from least restrictive funding rules to most, they are Partnered, Sponsored, Funding Eligible, and Funding Ineligible. For a full definition of these classifications, please refer to the Student Bovernment Bylaws. The Priorities and Criteria describe the limits and types of items each classification of organization is eligible for.

Partnered – Very few organizations fall into this category. These are organizations that perform critical university functions, present events with broad appeal, or have complex operations. These organizations have the least restrictive access to funding.

Sponsored – Organizations that serve the broad interests of students and the public. This type of organization contributes to the mission, vision, goals, and culture of the university. This includes organizations that appeal to some element of the culture of the University and that put on major events. This classification also includes all publications.

Funding Eligible – Organizations that are consistent with the mission and culture of Student Government and the University, and primarily engage in activities that benefit or interest their membership. This type of organization is consistent with all the eligibility requirements. 

Funding Ineligible – Organizations that do not meet ALL of the eligibility requirements. This type of organizations is ineligible to receive Student Government funding.

Current club classification tiers can be found here. Organization funding tiers are updated during annual allocations.