[2][3] The AUS was first known from 1937 to 1971 as the National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS), before allowing membership of colleges of higher education in 1971, which necessitated a name change.

In 2004, the NUS charged $5 per equivalent full time study loads (EFTSL) of students represented by each member organisation.

[9] In May of 2024, it was announced that government would be mandating that student unions receive 40% of SSAF, coming close to meeting the NUS's demands.

[11] The Adelaide University Union (AUU) voted to cease their SRC from authorising payments of Accreditation to NUS in their March Meeting.

[12] The AUU's SRC later condemned the move and restated its affiliation, and intention to pay accreditation fees autonomously.

These departments are: National Conference (also referred to as NatCon), is the NUS's annual general meeting (AGM).

[4] NatCon has at times been criticised for the perceived lack of transparency, owing in part to the fact that filming is typically banned for the entirety of the conference.

[16] Many NUS delegates are members of a faction, which are groups of students operating with a shared political platform.

[1][better source needed] The main factions are In a report commissioned by the NUS secretariat in 2013, independent auditors TLConsult authored a report which cited NUS' "inflexible factional system" as detrimental to the organisation and leading to "historical accounting approach ... out of step with modern financial practices".

[18][19] The TLConsult audit said that NUS only had enough cash reserves to "sustain the organisation for approximately one year in its current form" and that although voluntary student unionism had resulted in a notable decline in revenue, it was structural problems, "unchanged for nearly two decades", that were the primary cause of the NUS' current financial problems.

However, an attempt to eliminate state officer bearer positions (presidents excepted) was not passed by conference delegates.