Temple Student Government plans to change its club allocations guidelines for its Student Training and Rewards System, or STARS, effective for the Fall 2025 semester, to encourage more club activity between TSG and the clubs it supports.
“The main thing we were seeing is there was not a lot of engagement, we were trying to see if we could bridge the gap,” said Aneesh Sondur, a junior finance major and TSG’s chief financial officer.
Clubs are assigned one to four STAR ratings based on their involvement with the student government. TSG then allocates around $100,000 in university funds to STARS-rated clubs. Previously, two, three and four STAR clubs would each receive a $2,500 allocation. Effective Fall 2025, only four STAR clubs will receive $2,500 in allocations; one STAR clubs will receive $500, two STAR clubs $1,000 and three STAR clubs $1,500.
“The changes in STARS configuration were made because there was a consensus that after level 2 you leaped extremely quickly into large sums of allocations,” wrote TSG President Ray Epstein in a statement to The Temple News. “You’re disincentivized from climbing the rankings in STARS and continuing to attend workshops once you reach level 2 as it was.”
More than 370 clubs and organizations are registered on Main Campus, with a minority of clubs that do not receive allocations. Popular STARS-accredited clubs include professional fraternities, recreational clubs including music and dance and volunteering-based initiatives.
“When I saw the change, I was a little bit excited because I thought it was going to be an increase in funding, especially with the recent new height of admitted students into the university,” said Yasseen Rouni, a junior computer science major and president of Temple Breakers, a two STAR club.
TSG hosts 12 “Town Halls” throughout the semester and require STARS clubs to attend at least five throughout the year. Clubs also must complete a course and workshop about allocations and organization administration. TSG approved approximately 200 requests for allocations for a total of around $40,000 last semester, Sondur said.
Each tier entails different requirements, including writing reflections about different workshops in topics like diversity and inclusion, community engagement and leadership. They also must attend two more town halls, write an end of semester reflection and transition plan after the spring semester to receive a two STAR rating.
Three STAR clubs are required to fulfill the two STAR guidelines, attend two more workshops, have an event planning meeting with the student involvement team and have an officer attend TSG’s Inclusive Leadership Conference.
Four STAR clubs, which is the highest level, must complete all of the above and do an external community service event with a certain number of club members, collaborate with another STARS organization for an event and complete an end of year report.
With $60,000 remaining in allocations and a majority of the clubs being in the two to three STAR range, clubs will have to make the decision to step up their STAR ratings or figure out alternative allocation resources if they don’t have time or the resources for a STARS coordinator, which many larger clubs have.
“If there was a change that happened this semester, I would like it to reflect the admissions change that we had that allowed for a higher admittance since we have more students than we had in the past four years since COVID,” Rouni said. “Now all I’m seeing is reduced allocations for smaller clubs, so [transparency] is something I’m interested in seeing. I want to see the reasoning of why they made that decision.”
Since the changes will be effective starting during the Fall 2025 semester, clubs can use the spring semester to try to raise their STAR rating. Sondur recommended that clubs try to go level-to-level per year instead of skipping levels.
“Sometimes allocations can come off as a bit challenging, just because there are sometimes where we would have to deny requests because they’re not within the guidelines,” Sondur said. “But I would just say, always just try or reach out to any of the members of allocations. Our main job is to serve the students, that’s why we’ve committed ourselves to being a part of TSG.”
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