The result, says Assistant Dean for Student Life Programs Katie O'Dair, is that student groups are "severely underfunded."

"We don't know what's not happening here because of the lack of funding," O'Dair says. "I would support a student activities fee, but the students feel that such funding should be paid for out of their tuition."

According to O'Dair, the UA held a referendum eight years ago to create a termbill fee, but it was voted down by MIT students.

Choose Your Own Venture

Stanford may have reached a happy medium.

The $55 quarterly activities fee of the Associated Students of Stanford University's (ASSU)--netting the student government $1.4 million each year--may seem hefty, but a unique refund policy allows students to pay for only what they use.

For example, if students do not read a certain publication funded by the fee, ASSU president Mike Levin explains, they can request a refund of the, say, $3 newsstand price.

"It's completely democratic," Levin says. "If a student does not use a resource, if you don't like your fee, then it can be refunded."