Student Affairs

The Division of Student Affairs at SIU is committed to supporting the mission of the University by providing purposeful and engaging programs, resources and spaces.  The goal is to create a comprehensive experience that supports and challenges all students to achieve their academic goals and realize their personal potential.

Student Affairs professionals facilitate student transition into the campus community, promote student involvement in out-of-classroom learning experiences, assist student organizations, provide leadership training and coordinate a wide range of programs and services designed to foster student learning.  Please see our funding priorities below and click the Give Now button above and select the fund you wish to support.

First Saluki Center Fund

The First Saluki Center is a campus-wide collaboration - an initiative developed by the Division of Student Affairs and the Dean of Students, working together with Academic Affairs. We connect SIU’s first-generation students with academic resources, social and emotional support, financial literacy, opportunities to get involved on campus and in the community, and career preparedness assistance.

At SIU Carbondale, 40% of undergraduate students are first generation.

The First Saluki Center offers a variety of resources for first-generation students including:

• Peer Mentor Program:  SIU student mentors are Saluki upperclassmen and graduate assistants, who assist and connect first-generation students to resources on- and off-campus, assist with students’ academic preparation, and their social and personal transition to SIU Carbondale. A peer mentor serves as a coach, guide, and a positive role model.
• Living Learning Community: Shared experiences create unique bonds, and first-generation students can enjoy an enhanced experience by becoming part of our first-generation Living Learning Community (LLC). Students build a community with other first-generation students, explore what it means to be a first-generation college student, connect with faculty and staff, and learn about valuable academic and campus resources to help them succeed.
• Life Skills & Academic Workshops:  We sponsor a variety of informational workshops throughout the fall and spring semesters for the benefit of first-generation students.
• Textbooks/Need Based Financial Assistance Opportunities: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 27 percent of first-generation college students come from households with an annual income of $20,000 or less. We realize that finances can interfere with completing educational goals, so first-generation students will have the opportunity to receive need based financial assistance. 
• First Generation Connection:  It is a campus-wide collaboration that introduces and connects first-generation students with peers, faculty, and staff who are here to help them succeed.

HEROES (Higher Education Resources and Opportunities for Salukis in Need) Fund

The HEROES program is for SIU students experiencing stress about their meals, financial situation, living situation, access to healthcare, transportation, and/or clothing, personal care, and school necessities. Individualized support, guidance, and advocacy are provided to ensure all students' needs are met so they focus on their academic success.  

Your support will help us provide clothing, personal care items, school materials, transportation, food, medical care and counseling to Salukis who are trying to invest in their futures while going without.

Housing Development Fund

This fund provides general support of all housing on SIU's campus.  This includes residence halls, apartments, living learning communities, and specialty housing. University Housing offers living options to fill all of our students needs!  Whether a student is a traditional freshman, non-traditional student, married with children or graduate student we have options that will fit any lifestyle.

Mentoring Program Activities Fund

The goal of the Peer Mentoring program at the First Saluki Center is to increase student retention and success for mentees by engaging them early in their academic journey to identify challenges and connect them to the appropriate resources that will facilitate their success.

The First Saluki Peer Mentors are continuing students, upperclassman first-generation juniors, seniors and graduate students, who leverage their own skills and expertise to help other first-generation students have a successful education. The First Saluki Center mentors will have weekly and bi-weekly one-on-one meetings with their mentees to help identify challenges, set goals, and build skills. Specifically, Peer Mentors provide support, guidance and encouragement with the following outcomes in mind:

• Increase mentees knowledge about resources, which may help them succeed in college.
• Promote development of educational, leadership, career and learning goals.
• Increase social engagement and sense of belonging for students.
• Increase academic engagement and success.

Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

The Greek community’s purpose is to advance fraternity on campus and provide interfraternal leadership to the entire community. Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council, National Panhellenic Council, and College Panhellenic Association provides leadership to shape the future of each council, campus, and community. They are a driving force that creates positive change on campus.

There are 27 active, diverse chapters between 4 councils with 650+ students overall. Each fraternity and sorority is unique to their council, the Greek community, and to the SIU campus. 

Through car smashes, restaurant fundraisers, philanthropy events, community events, and formal events, Fraternity and Sorority Life chapters raised over $18,000 for the fall 2023 semester.  

The FSL community volunteered over 15,000 hours of their time to the campus, Carbondale community, outside of the Carbondale community, and their organization for the fall 2023 semester.

The FSL community welcomed 189 new members into our community for the fall 2023 semester.

Members of the fraternity and sorority community, on average, achieve higher GPA's and have higher retention and graduation rates. The average GPA for SIU Fraternity and Sorority Life for the fall 2023 semester was a 3.0, which is higher than the spring 2023 semester at a 2.9. This increase is achieved through study hours, mentoring, and recognition programs. 

Greek life was well represented during Homecoming week. From homecoming week activities, to showing off their float during the parade, to being elected to serve on the Homecoming Court, FSL was displayed the Saluki spirit well. FarmHouse Fraternity member and former Interfraternity Council President Dean Dearing, and Sigma Kappa member Ava Haase were elected by the SIU student body as 2023 Saluki Royalty.

Luiie Barrera President of Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity, Inc. and the Multicultural Greek Council, Abby Tate member of Alpha Gamma Delta and College Panhellenic Council President, Jack Aldihaimawi President of Sigma Chi and the Interfraternity Council, and Fraternity and Sorority Life Coordinator Allison Allbritten attended the Association for Fraternal Values and Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana at the beginning of the spring 2024 semester. Students brought back new knowledge on how to better serve the FSL community, their chapter, and their council. They met like-minded Greek individuals and got to see new and old friends. 

Saluki Cares Fund

Like so many others, our students are in need. The money raised will go directly to current students, helping them pay their bills, keeping food on their tables and strengthening their bonds to SIU.  For example:

• Some students do not have laptops or other technology necessary to take their courses remotely or online.
• The Saluki Food Pantry is supporting a growing number of students who live in the community, including students with families.
• Many students need assistance with housing costs, including those with off-campus jobs that have been suspended.

Your assistance is vital to our ability to respond quickly when they need help the most.  

Thank you for considering a gift to the Saluki Cares Emergency Student fund and giving us the tools to remain flexible and fulfill our mission. Your gift today will make a difference.

SIU Food Pantry

The Saluki Food Pantry is a direct response to the need among the student population for more resources to fight food insecurity -- the lack of nutritious food.  With rising fees, textbook costs, and living expenses, it has become increasingly difficult for students to juggle the costs of living with the costs of obtaining a university degree, and thus many students are finding themselves choosing between essentials such as food and the costs of college. The Saluki Food Pantry cares deeply about SIU students experiencing hunger and hold them in the center of all we do.  Our goal is to develop and sustain a food pantry on campus to provide food assistance to students in times of need, helping them to stay in school and meet their educational goals.  

At SIU we believe that no student should be hungry.  So our challenge is obvious: how to move from today, where more than 31% of students on campus need food assistance, to tomorrow in which no student at SIU faces hunger.  The Saluki Food Pantry believes that students facing hunger issues can create their own solutions through knowledge.  We will provide a means for students to gain skills such as shopping, cooking, budgeting, gardening, nutrition, as well as making students aware of the additional resources available to them on campus and in the community. 

Our goal is to reduce hunger today by ensuring no student misses a meal due to lack of resources, ensure students have access to adequate supply of nutritious food, and ensure that students seeking food assistance can find it.  We also hope to engage our campus community by increasing awareness of food and hunger issues and building more engaged students and campus leaders. And finally, reconnect Food and Health by promoting good nutrition, contributing to campus wellness, and impacting lifelong eating habits.  

Rainbow's End Child Development Center

Rainbow’s End Child Development Center was established to meet the need for quality and convenient child care to the children of Southern Illinois University Carbondale students, alumni, faculty and staff, as well as, the Southern Illinois community.  The primary goal of the Center is to provide a secure, educational, and positive atmosphere for children. The Center is committed to providing a program which embodies developmentally appropriate practices and principles outlined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).