The Undergraduate Senate (UGS) voted unanimously to pass the 2025-26 Annual Grant Package — meeting only $4.5 million worth of annual grants out of the $8 million that Volunteer Student Organizations (VSOs) requested —  in a special Wednesday meeting over Zoom. 

“It really does suck that we can’t fund it all,” Appropriations Chair David Sengthay ’26 said. “If it was a perfect world, we’d give the $8 million. I wish we could, but, simply put, if we go over $4.5 million, it’s just fiscally irresponsible.”

If the student body votes in favor during the upcoming spring election, the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) will increase the ASSU Student Activities Fee, which is included in Stanford’s cost of attendance, to $245 per quarter, an $18 increase from its current level. The fee increase will support grant funding for student initiatives, allowing the ASSU to raise its approved annual grant funding from $4.2 million to $4.5 million.

To prevent added costs for the the student body, the ASSU could not meet the full request, Sengthay said. The activities fee would double if ASSU were to fund all $8 million worth of grants, Sengthay said. Sengthay added that if this occurred, many students would waive the fee and ASSU would be left with less money regardless.

Sengthay said he worked with professional accountants hired by the ASSU to identify the cuts. “We tried to be as fair as possible,” Sengthay said. 

This was the first year that the ASSU mandated consideration of clubs’ reserve accounts while deciding whether to approve their grants.

ASSU President Diego Kagurabadza ’25 also presented the Bill to Authorize Reserve Spending for Frost Fest 2025, which the UGS approved unanimously. The bill requested that $6,000 from the Undergraduate Programming Board Reserve be allocated to the upcoming Frost Fest, where rapper Doechii will headline on April 12.

Kagurabadza drafted the bill in response to a request from the Stanford Concert Network to cover the increased cost of artist fees due to Doechii’s recent win at the 2025 Grammys for Best Rap Album. 

The Reserve is largely made up of unused funds from previous years’ grants. 

“The purpose of this fund is to provide reserves for emergency and unprecedented situations, like the one I think we have on our hands coming up in a few weeks,” Kagurabadza said, referring to Doechii’s performance.