Arts students could soon see their student society fees increase significantly in response to rising inflation and operational costs.
The proposal, which arts students can currently vote for as a referendum item in the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) general elections, would see the AUS annual fee increase from $13 per student to $22.94, with future increases indexed to inflation.
If students pass the proposal, the change would take effect in September, impacting the range of services the AUS can provide. AUS President Sarah Wong told The Ubyssey the fee has remained stagnant over the past 26 years, last increasing in 2000, despite significant inflation and rising operational costs.
“Inflation has gone up, so things have got more expensive, but our budget has stayed the exact same,” Wong said.
The AUS’s current fee is one of the lowest undergraduate constituency fees at UBC despite representing the university’s largest faculty. For comparison, students in the faculty of science — the second largest faculty at UBC — and the faculty of applied science, the third largest, currently pay significantly higher amounts to their societies ($32.19 and $52.19, respectively). Even if students approve the $9.94 increase, the arts fee would still remain well below the median undergraduate society fee.
The lack of a fee increase in recent years has placed a growing strain on the society’s budget. Wong said that the AUS has operated in a deficit and cannot sustain its current level of spending without increasing revenue. Although the society has “a little bit of a surplus from previous years, that surplus is not going to last forever,” she said, adding that without the increase, the deficit will eventually lead to a “lot of reduced services.”
After students narrowly rejected a similar proposal last year, the AUS is attempting to fix this fiscal gap once again. Wong described last year’s vote loss — which failed with a difference of 12 votes — as “really close,” suggesting that students were open to the idea, but may not have fully understood the reasoning behind the increase.
“I think we just needed to have more education and awareness about the reasons behind the fee increase,” she said, noting that asking students for money is never a “fun thing” to do, especially amid recent tuition increases.
Under the current proposal, AUS would index the fee to the B.C. Consumer Price Index, automatically adjusting each year based on inflation rates.
Wong said the AUS plans to outline “dollar for dollar” how the increase would be allocated.
The AUS operates an open food pantry and biweekly community meals through its Food Hub, which Wong said was important given rising food insecurity among students. Roughly $3 of the proposed increase would go toward food programming, she said.
The increase would also support the Textbook Broke Initiative, a constituency-supported AMS program that reimburses students for textbook costs. The AUS contributed $10,000 to the initiative this year, half of the $20,000 total contributed by undergraduate societies, and Wong hopes the AUS can increase that contribution next year.
“We don't think students should be paying hundreds of dollars for textbooks per term,” Wong said, adding that textbook reimbursements provide “direct money back into students’ pockets.”
Additional funding would support operational costs at the Arts Student Centre, which the AUS manages. Wong cited recent equipment purchases and said future improvements could include study pods and ongoing space maintenance.
As students go to the polls, Wong said the fee increase referendum will determine whether the AUS expands its services to address food insecurity, textbook costs and operational needs, or continue under the status quo, operating with a fixed fee structure that no longer reflects current financial realities.
Voting is open until Friday at 6 p.m.
A previous version of this story misstated that the proposed fee increase was $9.64, when it was actually $9.94. This article was updated 2:12 a.m. on March 28, 2026 to reflect this change.
