Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, St. Olaf College will introduce a $500 annual activity fee, or $250 per semester, as part of the College’s comprehensive fee.
The fee will go to support programming and operations across student life, including the Student Government Association (SGA), Programming Board, the Lion’s Pause, student organizations, the Office of Student Activities, and Residence Life.
According to the College’s information page, the fee is meant to make funding for student activities more transparent. While those programs have long been supported through tuition dollars, the added line separates those costs from the rest of the comprehensive fee and allows funding to scale with changes in enrollment.
It also notes that students will not be able to opt out of the fee.
Some student club leaders say the funding could help expand opportunities for organizations that have struggled financially.
“Well, as someone who is in a club sport struggling for money, it might help us, which I would be very grateful for,” said Lainey Olson ’27, a member of the Women’s Club Rugby Team, in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
Currently, the team doesn’t have enough money to provide equipment for their players. When Olson started her freshmen year, they were given shorts, socks, cleats, and mouth guards.
Now, the only thing they can provide is mouth guards.
“We don’t have money to play in all the games we want to,” Olson said. “We have to be really selective because the admissions fee for the tournaments and stuff that we want to play are $200 each.”
At the same time, some students say the new charge came as a surprise, leaving them questioning why this was tagged onto a fee that totaled over $80,000.
Annika Kirchmaier ’27 noted that several people mentioned the connection between their tuition and what the fee was going towards.
“People were like, ‘I don’t really care about these Res Life events that they’re hosting,’” Kirchmaier said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
While Kirchmaier said she understands the importance of funding student organizations, she said students should have a clearer understanding of how decisions about the fee were made.
“I think just talking a little bit more about how that decision was made and what the fee is actually for would help,” Kirchmaier said. “What does that actually look like in practice? How am I going to see that in my daily life?”
SGA Secretary for Student Affairs Anna Grace ’26 said SGA representatives have been aware of discussions around the activity fee for some time, though she emphasized that communication with students is key — a message she has shared to the Board of Regents as the student body’s representative.
“We need to make sure we communicate effectively and properly to students [to change] the wrong idea of [what] the activities fee actually is instead of just another add on,” Grace said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
For more information about the activity fee, visit the College’s FAQ page.
