Chloe Coffield, staff writer

At the beginning of the 2026-27 school year, the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) introduced a new Student Organization Level System (SOLS). The SOLS reframes the requirements and expectations that OSI are asking for as well as reallocating funds to meet the needs of student organizations.

Presidents of student organizations received an email on Aug. 17 explaining the new level system that has been established. In the email sent by OSI, it was explained that no immediate action was required of presidents, and that clubs would be automatically placed into one of four levels.

According to Britanni Farmer, director of student involvement, part of the reason that the SOLS was created was to clarify the responsibilities and expectations of clubs
and organizations.

“For our interest groups, there was not a lot of clear structure and accountability for what we were offering them [and] for what our expectations were from them,” Farmer said. “For larger registered organizations we had some larger expectations of a larger campus reach [like] planning large scale events and contributing to the community at large.”

The new SOLS level system introduces four levels. Clubs designated at Level 1 don’t receive funding, but are recognized by OSI and are able to reserve space on campus to hold meetings, such as Easy Baked Improv.

“We’ve had a number of groups that have formed that are more focused on fostering community and development within themselves,” Farmer said. “We wanted to create a space for that.”

Level 2 is for groups that require some funding for their organizations. Those clubs automatically receive a $300 annual allocation that comes directly from the Budget and Finance Committee to spend on club materials.

“It gives that space for some of those smaller groups that just want to meet and have community with one another, but need a little bit of funding to do different activities,” Farmer said. “Our friends from Yarn from the Heart need a little bit of money to buy some materials and connect with one another. We want to be able to support students forming organizations that way.”

According to Farmer, moving up to Levels 3 and 4, the expectations are more strict when it comes to requirements since they are allotted a much larger sum.

“Those Level 3 and 4 organizations have to have a constitution,” Farmer says. “Anybody that is getting funds has to have approval from the Student Life Council.”

Once a group has reached Level 3 status, they are allotted a budget of $5,000. In a more traditional sense, this level focuses mainly on completing certain requirements per semester, like the requirement of having to host one community-wide event per year, as well as one service credit. Examples of Level 3 organizations include Listen and Orgullo.

“We wanted to be able to differentiate some of their requirements and the benefits that they receive,” Farmer said. “That’s where we came up with that $5,000 limit for Level 3 and that’s just based on requests from the last 5 or so years. They have our standard: what we have required for different student organizations.”

The most advanced level, Level 4, is reserved for organizations with a wider reach, such as Krannert Center Activities Board. Groups of this level are required to host two events a year and complete two service credits.

The SOLS impacts the budget groups receive ranging from large groups like KCAB to smaller clubs like Berry’s Chapter of Alpha Zeta.

According to the Treasurer for Alpha Zeta, Lydia Whitlock, the smaller budget for these more esoteric groups was an unexpected announcement. Her club has been struggling financially, and the announcement of a new level system changed how they viewed their budget. She said the main focus of her club this year is to use their budget adequately.

“For the past couple years we’ve been working our way out of the negatives,” Whitlock said. “So I think the goal is to stay, like not in debt, not in the negatives and stay in the budget.”

Farmer said she believes that this change is affecting KCAB negatively when it comes to funding different events.

“[KCAB] used to be able to do more events. As things have gotten more expensive, we’ve had to pare down and give money to priority events.” Brittani Farmer

Historically, in KCAB’s 50 years of operating and planning events, they have consistently  had a majority of the budget, which makes sense with how many functions they are allotted to host each year. Berry’s “Pack the House’”events are a special tradition designed to boost student engagement at Viking athletic games and comes directly from the KCAB’s budget. It’s important for groups with that much footing to have all of the ‘bells and whistles,’ according to KCAB standards.

“Finals Fest is our largest event, funding wise. It’s the last event of the year and takes place in April, during the last full week of classes,” Farmer said. “We have a band or two we bring out for that as well as food trucks and different activities like face painting.”

Alpha Zeta and other smaller funded clubs are not awarded these specialties. This means that  they really have to consider what to prioritize when it comes to hosting social events on a limited grant.

“The main event I can think of right now is in the spring, it’s for farmers appreciation week,” Whitlock said. “We do tables outside, and we have butter making.”

Both events are clear, engaging ways for students to get involved with either organization, but one has received far more outreach because of student participation. In summary: bigger events means bigger attendance. Which also means: higher level means higher attendance, and vice versa for our lower levels.

Farmer said she believes that this change is affecting KCAB negatively when it comes to funding among different events.

While the Alpha Zeta organization comes in at about $150 in funding, receiving the exact amount requested, their counterpart, KCAB, is receiving $160,000 for their annual budget, after having requested the larger sum of $180,000.

Maintaining an engaged club status with active members and willing participants in light of this new system remains a common goal for these two groups. For Alpha Zeta, that means simply having a foot in the door.

According to Whitlock, the low number in allocations is limiting students from discovering clubs such as Alpha Zeta. While the different student organizations across campus have different financial needs, the amount of funding available to them can vary significantly. There is an argument to be made about how these decisions are affecting clubs as a whole. She also added that with lower income, there is less opportunity for outreach.

“I think you can only do so much,” Whitlock said. “If our goal is to stay within budget, we obviously can’t have as many events as KCAB.”

Farmer made it evident that, not only for KCAB, but also for any group that hosts any sort of “blowout” event, priorities must be made to ensure student engagement.

“We want to make sure that we are balancing the wants and needs of students with the programming that is being planned,” Farmer said.

Both associations come with challenges, and while the new budgeting system may determine what is physically possible, it does not deter any group from what they hope to accomplish this year.

“There is a challenge with making sure that we are spending the funds properly, and having enough to make that event successful.” Farmer said.