More money requested for grad students; student body fees may increase
Money spent on graduate students is an investment in the university, not an expense, was the message A.J. Rounds brought to the Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council meeting Tuesday night.
Rounds, the graduate studies vice president, cited unproportional funding and representation of graduate students on campus.
“We are extremely uncompetitive in the graduate student sector,” he said, which is taking away from the university’s prestige and its ability to draw investment for research.
Currently, Rounds said graduate students make up 18 percent of the on campus USU population, but fewer than 1 percent of student funds administered by ASUSU are being spent on graduate students. In addition, only 1 to 6 percent of graduate students are attending university activities, which utilize 74 percent of the ASUSU budget, Rounds said.
Needs of graduate students simply aren’t being met, he said.
Graduate student needs include an “extreme need in travel funds,” small research grants, better teaching stipends, reimbursement for publication costs, health insurance and child care.
Rounds presented several options to help fund these needs including reallocating the student fees graduate students pay to activities and opportunities specific to graduate students.
Suggestions will be fine-tuned into legislation once the restructure of the ASUSU Executive Council, currently underway, has reached a more stable point, Rounds said.
Two bills were passed by the council approving recommendations to the student fee board.
The passage of ECB 05-13 provided support for the hiring of a full-time legal representative at USU. The move would mean a $1.75 increase per student in fees.
Currently, USU employs two part-time lawyers, neither of whom can represent a student in court.
“The overall goal of student fees is to provde services students can’t pay for on their own,” said Les Essig, ASUSU president. “The typical student can’t afford legal counsel.”
Services such as help with landlord/tenant issues would be more heavily utilized, Brandon Halford, HASS senator, said.
But Jason Pickup, engineering senator, and Kathy Leslie, activities vice president, argued the two part-time lawyers aren’t being utilized and more advertising of the services is needed before a need for full-time representation can be established.
The vote passed 11-8.
Another bill, passing 18-1, approved the recommendation of a $.25 raise to help fund the hiring of a full-time lobbyist for the Utah Student Association, a group that represents all 12 of Utah’s institutions of higher education.
Essig said all other universities in the state are passing almost identical legislation, except the University of Utah, which will fund the position through other means.
“We couldn’t spend a better $.25,” Halford said. “There is a lack of concern in the state Legislature for students.”
Essig, who said the current part-time lobbyist is “efficiently lobbying as we have never seen before,” said the hiring of a full-time representative is crucial to combatting rising tuition costs.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu