Dear students,

We hope you had a good start into the new year! 🦉

You may have already heard: The student union contribution will be increased by EUR 5.50 in the coming semester. We would like to explain to you why this step is unfortunately necessary and what exactly is behind it.

In previous semesters, we have deliberately tried to keep the contribution stable - even in financially strained times. During the difficult Covid period, we lowered some of the contributions and used reserves to avoid placing an additional burden on you.

However, we are now at a point where we can no longer cover all of our tasks and obligations with the previous contributions.

🔎 Why is this the case?

• Falling student numbers: Fewer students unfortunately also means less income.
• Rising prices: Whether it's events, funding for initiatives or material costs - inflation doesn't stop at us.
• Collective wage agreements in the public sector: The salaries of our employees are based on the applicable collective wage agreements, and significant adjustments have also been made here in recent years.

To ensure that we can continue to be there for you as usual - whether it's providing advice, supporting initiatives or organising cultural and social events - we now have to adapt our finances to the changed conditions. However, this is explicitly not about additional expenditure, but about safeguarding our existing services.

Part of the increase will directly benefit the student councils (Fachschaften):

📚 More funding for the student councils (Fachschaften)!

The student councils (Fachschaften) do a great job - from O-Phase to barbecue evenings, sporting events, excursions and cultural events. However, due to rising prices and fewer students, many student councils (Fachschaften) have had to budget heavily in recent years. In order to give them more room for manoeuvre and at the same time avoid participation fees for events as far as possible, we are also specifically increasing their financial resources.

We know that a contribution increase is always a sensitive issue and it is important to us to talk to you about it transparently. You can find the historical development of all contribution components here: https://stura.cc/beitrag

❓ Still have questions?

You can contact us at any time at stura@tu-chemnitz.de or via Instagram @stura_tuc. Or drop by our meetings - you are always welcome! You can find the dates and agendas here: https://stura.cc/sitzungen

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards

Your StuRa