The AMS has suspended the intake of new clubs and has capped the total number of clubs to 350, down from 445 active clubs, citing a lack of meeting space and funding. AMS VP Administration Dylan Evans and VP Finance Gagan Parmar spearheaded the decision at a June 11 Council meeting.
In an interview with The Ubyssey, Parmar justified the decision, saying 350 clubs would be a “sustainable” amount and that active clubs would be held at that number until infrastructure and finances can support more clubs.
According to Evan’s presentation to Council, current club expenditures run the AMS a projected $80,000 deficit per fiscal year, being a major reason for the club cap. At Council, Evan cited the Club Benefit Fund fee decrease as a contributor to the deficit.
In 2022, the AMS reduced the Clubs Benefit Fund fee from $1.78 to $0.75, which as of 2025, is approximately $44,000 of revenue annually. During the Council meeting, Gagan justified the reduction at the time, stating the fund was “underutilized” due to a lack of clubs from COVID-19.
In the 2021/22 fiscal year, the Club Benefit Fund spent over $61,000, but in 2024/25 that number skyrocketed to over $359,000. Parmar called the jump in registered clubs a “resurgence” of pre-COVID-19 numbers.
Evans additionally cited limited meeting space and lockers for clubs to The Ubyssey as a reason for the cap. With 445 active clubs, only 200 lockers and 47 usable club offices are available. However, Evans said that the AMS was working on increasing locker numbers.
“We have eight new lockers in the works right now, eight new full size lockers … and then on top of that, we're also exploring up to 10 to 15 new lockers outside of that,” he stated.
To improve the Club Benefit Fund’s financial position, the AMS proposed a referendum item in March to increase student fees, including raising the Club Benefit Fund fee from $0.85 to $1.85 per student. However, the fee increase was the only AMS-proposed referendum item to not pass, with 53.4 per cent of voters voting ‘no.’
Since no club fee increase is coming in the foreseeable future, Parmar and Evans stressed maximizing AMS club support with existing resources.
“We're focusing on supporting clubs with the resources that we have available … [which means] working on a strategy to ensure that the fee and the balance in the fund is not drawn down quite as significantly, as it was over the last couple years, while also making sure we're supporting clubs to the best of our ability,” Parmar said.
The AMS fielded several initiatives to rebuild UBC’s club scene after it was damaged during COVID-19. The AMS transitioned financial systems in 2022 to combat slow club expense refunds. The AMS also launched the Clubs Recovery Benefit, aimed at supporting clubs as they rebuilt.
While new club intakes are suspended, Evans believes that students still have plenty of opportunities to find clubs they are interested in.
“What I would encourage everyone who would like to start a club is [to] … take a look through our club directory, and I'm sure most club ideas, at least, have similar clubs in our directory right now,” Evans said.
