The Student Government Association represents the students at the University of Maryland, College Park. SGA members advocate for causes students care about, distribute money to groups so they can achieve their goals, and plan and organize events like Crab Fest and Wild and Crazy Terps Field Day.

The Student Government Association is the supreme governance body for the undergraduate student body at the University of Maryland, College Park. The organization, which serves as the voice of the student body, is composed of three branches: the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch.

Each year, the SGA hosts events and promotes long-standing traditions. One of the many responsibilities that the SGA has is to allocate more than $1.5 million in student activity fees to SGA-recognized groups so they can host diverse programming for the campus community. The SGA also funds many other programs, including the Student Legal Aid Office and the extremely popular Collegiate Readership program, which provides free copies of the Washington Post, the New York Times and USA Today to thousands of students each day.

The Student Government Association formulates policies promoting and governing the activities and welfare of the undergraduate student body. SGA members advise all those who make decisions that affect undergraduate students, including but not limited to the President of the University and his Cabinet, the Board of Regents and the Maryland General Assembly. The SGA is also responsible for making recommendations on the allocation of the student activity fee every fiscal year.

The SGA is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

Executive Branch powers are vested in the Student Body President and the Executive Board, which is composed of the Senior Vice President, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Vice President of Financial Affairs - all of whom are elected for one-year terms by the student body. The members of the Executive Cabinet advise the President on matters such as Administrative Affairs, Communications, Governmental Affairs, Student Groups and Programming.

Legislative powers are vested in the SGA Legislature, which is composed of 41 legislators who are each elected by an academic college or residential community, or are appointed from the freshman class. The duties of the SGA Legislators are to effectively represent the expressed views and concerns of the University of Maryland student body; to properly inform and educate their constituencies on issues that impact the campus; and to enact policies and procedures that will address these issues. Legislators also serve on at least two committees and work on at least one service project during their term.

Judicial powers are vested in the Governance Board, which consists of at least one Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. They hear cases on issues such as the constitutionality of SGA and student group actions.