While all institutions and individuals share an obligation to pursue their daily activities in recognition of future generations under the sustainability concept, institutions of higher education have a unique responsibility and opportunity to take action on sustainability in light of their role as the incubators of upcoming generations of social agents. For all their dynamism, these institutions still encounter the same obstacles to change as would any business or household and students remain committed to improving their institutions’ sustainability profiles. This commitment begs the question, if students are so disproportionately invested in present decisions’ effects on tomorrow, what tools are at their disposal to proactively invest in the transition to sustainable operations and development today?

One tool, the student green fund, allows students to make such an investment in the most literal of senses. Under this mechanism, students pay a small additional fee each year, semester, or term to generate a pool of funds for explicit use on sustainability initiatives. This report has identified sixty-five (65) institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada at which students have either implemented or voted to implement a green fund program as of April 2009. Between the establishment of a $1 per semester fee to fund recycling programs at the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1997 and the record high turnout vote to fund an Office of Sustainability at the University of Georgia at Athens this past March, these fee programs have taken many forms and funded a wide variety of initiatives. This report seeks to analyze the scope and form of these programs.

Where, when, and how have these programs been established? How much are students willing to pay for sustainability? What do green funds pay for and how are they allocated? How do green funds affect the administration? Why have some green fund efforts been unsuccessful? Who has benefited from student green fund and how? Compiling original survey data from organizers of existing green funds, internet search results, and a review of existing green fund catalogues, this report constitutes the most comprehensive look at these questions to date.