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The Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board (SACAB) is comprised of student representatives elected from all three institutions, including the Community College of Denver (CCD), Metropolitan State College of Denver (Metro State), and the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Downtown Denver (UCDHSC). The Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board endeavors to support a quality educational experience by: providing balanced representation of all campus individuals and their constituent academic institutions, planning for the present and future campus environment, maintaining and enhancing equitable campus-wide practices, committing to open communication and mutual cooperation among all parties involved with the Auraria Campus.

Three years ago SACAB presented a proposal, by the Auraria Clean Energy Campaign, to create a new student fee for the purpose of providing clean, renewable electrical power to the Auraria campus for the cost of $1.00 per student including the institutional collection fee per semester. The Auraria Board of Directors approved the proposal.

In April 2004 the Clean Energy Fee was successfully passed by the Auraria Campus student body. The new student fee was created for the explicit purpose of "purchasing clean renewable electrical power for the Auraria Campus from August 23, 2004 through May 12, 2007".

As of July 1st 2006, half of the funds collected by the Clean Energy Fee were spent on a wind energy offset purchase that places the Auraria Campus as the number one higher education user of green power in the state with 45% of the campus electricity now wind powered. The Clean Energy Subcommittee of SACAB (Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board) has allocated the remaining funds collected from the student fee program on seven small solar powered lighting projects on campus.

Conversations between students within the Clean Energy Subcommittee began to center around expanding the Clean Energy Program Fee into a more comprehensive Sustainable Campus Program. Support for this concept was voiced by other student groups on campus and SACAB initiated a campus survey to formally assess student interest in the expansion of the Clean Energy Program into a more comprehensive Sustainable Campus Program. This survey found overwhelming support for the creation of the Sustainable Campus Program and collection of a $5 per student per semester fee to support this program.