The Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) is a big fat student tax that takes $160 millon out of the pockets of students every single year.

This money is taken from students who are already struggling with the cost of living and is handed straight to student unions in an unfair, undemocratic and unnecessary way. Students have no real choice and no vote – if you don’t pay, you can be blocked from graduating.

During the COVID years (2020 -2022) Universities charged students $400 million right at the time they couldn't even access the services that the SSAF supposedly pays for.

Every full-time student is slugged $365 a year, indexed to inflation, for services they may never use. Instead of helping students, the Student Tax is often funnelled into student unions and the National Union of Students – funding political activism that does nothing to ease the pressure on those who are simply trying to get an education.

It’s time to put an end to this rort. Students should be free to choose how their money is spent, not forced to bankroll organisations they don’t support.

We are calling on the Federal Government to Axe the Student Tax and restore fairness, transparency, and choice for every Australian student.

 Sign this petition and send a clear message: Axe the Student Tax.

Petition

To the Honourable President and members of the Senate in Parliament assembled:

The petition of the undersigned shows:
That the compulsory Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) imposes an unjustifiable burden on students, extracting over $160 million every year from young Australians already facing significant financial pressure, with no choice and no opt-out.

Instead of providing direct relief or essential services, vast portions of the SSAF are diverted into student unions and national peak bodies whose primary function is political campaigning and activism. These funds are used to advance partisan agendas and ideological causes that many students neither support nor benefit from, while doing little to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis or improve the quality of education.

This compulsory SSAF is, in effect, a political slush fund disguised as student support. It denies students freedom of choice, there is no transparency on how it is spent, and worst of all graduation can be blocked unless the tax is paid.

Your petitioners ask that the Senate:
Axe the Student Services and Amenities Fee (the student tax) to restore fairness, and choice to Australia’s higher education system, ensuring that no student is forced to bankroll political organisations under the guise of “services and amenities.”