The fall semester hasn’t even begun, and Student Body President Jake Torres and Student Body Vice President Austin Prentice have already begun working on their legislative goals for the upcoming Student Senate.
The fall semester hasn’t even begun, and Student Body President Jake Torres and Student Body Vice President Austin Prentice have already begun working on their legislative goals for the upcoming Student Senate.
Among those goals include a significant focus on finances.
Torres particularly wants to introduce legislation for “sweeping” financial reforms for the University, which would discuss tuition prices, financial aid advising and scholarships.
Torres emphasizes students’ thoughts on “how frustrating it is to come to the University, pay a certain amount of money, and then [tuition] goes up arbitrarily afterwards.” Torres said he wants to see a system where seniors would pay the same amount they did for their junior year.
“We’re going to try and work with the administration some way where we can get that, or at least make sure that the increases are predictable,” he said. “Because there’s been semesters where it’s gone up like six percent, and sometimes it has gone up 12.”
Tuition and fees increased by 5.7 percent for the 2010-11 academic year, bringing the total to $37,170.
Additionally, Torres would like to set up a fund for need-based scholarships by taking a small percentage of the tuition increase—$11 per student—and using that money to start an endowment. Torres also wants to improve the financial advising process, especially for graduate students. Torres said graduate students have told him that it was difficult to even get in contact with their advisors.
Prentice wants to take a closer look at student fees and see if Senate can get an increase in the amount of funding it receives. An increase in funding would allow Senate to give more money to student organizations.
Prentice will also focus on reading days. The 2010-11 calendar has one reading day scheduled for the fall semester and none for the spring semester.
Prentice said he will push for at least one reading day per semester with legislation and possibly a student petition.
“We need to have reading days,” he said. “I mean, for those that take challenging loads and challenge themselves, I think [not having at least one reading day is] a disadvantage.”
If passed, any legislation that does not directly concern Student Senate does not automatically become University policy.
Instead, the legislation is sent with the stamp of Student Senate approval to President R. Gerald Turner for consideration. Turner, and ultimately the Board of Trustees, have final approval.
