Last fall, 209 out of 233 campus organizations received funding from the Instructurally Related Activities (IRA) program. In total, an upward of $2 million was awarded to the applicants.

This fall, just 109 out of 290 applicants received funding, and roughly $1.2 million was given out –  nearly half of what was provided in 2024. 

Here are just three examples of organizations that are affected by the cuts:

• In Fall 2024, the Chicanx Writers and Artists Association received $21,100. This year, they received nothing. 
• Last year, Jumpstart received $22,820. This year, they received no funding. 
• In Fall 2024, the Dairy Science Club got $12,000. This year, they got nothing.

The massive dropoff in funding has devastated club and organization budgets. Conferences won’t be attended, projects can no longer be completed and leaders of said organizations are trying to find ways to supplement the losses.

In 2024, The Collegian received $19,629 to fund conference expenses, award entries and travel for reporters. This year, it requested $26,887 and received nothing.

How it works

As per the IRA guidelines found on the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) website, the IRA program is meant to “provide student fee funding for out-of-class experiences for students participating in an academic program, discipline or department where those experiences are integrally related to one of its instructional courses.”

After an organization submits an IRA application, a board consisting of students, staff and faculty dissect each application, and then it is up to Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval to approve the requests.

According to Vice Provost Alam Hasson, the university built up excess IRA funding during the COVID-19 era, when campus organizations didn’t require as much funding due to limited activity.

“The last funds from the surplus were expended in 24-25, and so for the 25-26 application cycle, the total awards available to award were restricted to the anticipated revenue from fees collected in 25-26 – about $1.2M,” Hasson said.

In other words, that extra $1 million is dried up and gone. 

The student experience 

The students featured in this article chose to remain anonymous due to fear of the funding consequences that they believe could come from speaking about this issue. 

One president of a club within the Lyles College of Engineering that focuses on clean and renewable energy said the group “died out” during COVID-19, but was brought back two years ago. 

She said that they had a national conference planned for this semester and received zero funding for it, despite receiving $7,000 last year to take 10 people.

“We definitely can’t make it to the conference, because it’s supposed to be out in Georgia,” the president said. 

And, as she described, the IRA liaison warned the club that there might be some funding cuts this year. She was not able to recall who the individual who approached them was.

“We didn’t expect this big of a cut from our student organizations,” she said.

As club president, part of her job is to recruit individuals to join the club by offering a solid incentive. Now, she fears for the club’s membership – again.

“The conferences were usually a big selling point for our club for freshmen and sophomores to at least kind of get their feet in the water,” she said. 

She suspects that there may be bias in the university’s decision when it comes to deciding who receives funding and who doesn’t.

“Even within our college, you can tell which of the clubs definitely get more money,” she said. “It’s usually the more prominent ones.”

Another club president is facing the challenges of upholding an organization without IRA funding. 

“We’re actually doing the whole, trying to be recognized by the state as [a] nonprofit to be able to get donations and things off of campus, to make it easier on us,” the second president said. 

He said that his club’s application was approved for consideration, but then his adviser notified his department that they wouldn’t receive any funding. 

The second president was also planning on taking his club on a professional development trip, but that won’t happen anymore.

A student who works alongside the second president, similar to the first president, had a “validated” source tell her that her department was going to experience funding cuts. The student was not willing to reveal this individual’s identity.

“According to the source, our department usually gets around 87 to 85k,” the student said. “Now that number has dropped from 19 to 17k.”

Still, the student was surprised by the cuts and the lack of explanation from the university.

“There was no real clarification on why – it was just stated that they were denied,” the student said. 

The second president said that he heard through the grapevine that this crisis has spread through several other organizations on campus and made projects nearly impossible to accomplish.

“They depend, kind of, on IRA funds to continue their projects,” the second president said. “They’re having to look for outside sources for sponsors or donations, just the same as we are.”

The student and the second president, like the first, speculate that the university favors certain organizations over others. 

The two hesitated to answer, but when asked specifically, the second president, on behalf of the student, pointed to athletics reaping the benefits. 

Intercollegiate athletics receives several direct funding streams from student fees, so it was not affected by the IRA grants. The Collegian also receives a stream of income from student fees unrelated to IRA grants. 

Still, the second president pointed to potential athletics favoritism.

“Of course, they make money, but based off of the whole idea with the Shakira concert and everything, that costs money,” the second president said. “You got to put out money to then make money.”

On the other hand, Jiménez-Sandoval said that the IRA allocation process is designed to be fair and equitable.

“I have confidence in the integrity of this committee’s work,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. 

Jiménez-Sandoval encouraged students who are suffering from this loss to rely on other funding resources, such as the Office of Student Involvement or co-sponsorships. 

He said that, as of this year, ASI will have more funding to allocate.

“They are receiving an additional allocation of $200,000 through the new student fee that was passed in May 2025,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.

Still, this fall, some organizations that did not receive IRA funding are left scrambling.