Student Activities Fee Funding for Houses Jumps 83 Percent

The Harvard College Student Activities Fee allocation committee has awarded $439,000 to Houses for fiscal year 2027, an 83 percent increase from the roughly $240,000 Houses received through the fee last year, College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo confirmed in a Thursday statement.

The College has also allocated $116,000 to the First Year Social Committee this year, Palumbo wrote, calling the move “a new investment” tied to “the College’s investment in the first year experience.”

College Dean David J. Deming made the freshman year a priority this year in a September email to students, focusing on creating more social spaces for first year students and conducting a nationwide search for a permanent freshman dean.

The new money for Houses and freshmen comes from a higher SAF. Deming announced last November that the fee would rise from $200 to $450 last year and become mandatory for all students starting this fall — nearly doubling the pool that funds House Committees and student organization funding through the Harvard Undergraduate Association.

In the email, Deming attributed the change to pressures on House budgets from the growing number of students opting out of the fee.

Student organizations are also getting more money. The HUA announced $800,000 in SAF funding for the academic year, split evenly between the fall and spring semesters — a 32 percent increase from last year.

The jump in the overall House budget is expected to carry through to individual Houses. HoCos are still dividing the funds, and Palumbo wrote that “exact amounts will be shared when they are available.”

Houses will also lose a major source of income this year. The College made laundry free for undergraduates on Jan. 1, a change paid for by the fee increase. Laundry profits across all Houses totaled $187,000 in fiscal year 2026, according to a person familiar with the matter. This year, they will fall to zero.

The Dudley Community also received roughly $12,000 from the College last year, the person said.

The community, which served off-campus students and residents of the Dudley Co-op, will shut down at the end of the 2026-2027 academic year as part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ restructuring to close a $365 million budget deficit. Its former affiliates have been assigned new House affiliations.

In a statement, Palumbo confirmed that former Dudley affiliates now have House affiliations and access to House events.

“Additionally, the Dean of Students Office has allocated additional funds to support programming for the 16 co-op students,” he wrote.

House budgets have shifted significantly under Deming. In addition to the laundry and activities fees changed, he launched a Housing Day fundraising challenge, in which alumni have 24 hours to donate directly to their Houses.

Last year, alumni gave a total of roughly $276,000. Adams House took in more than half, about $170,000 — more than the other 11 Houses. Kirkland House received the least, about $2,400.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Summer E. Rose can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ser.85. Follow her on X @summerellenrose.