Olivia Arbogast • For The Post • oa191109@ohiou.edu
At last night's meeting, Ohio University's Graduate Student Senate passed two resolutions: one pertaining to graduate student general fee buy downs, and another to adopt a new member.
The senate passed the first as a pre-emptive resolution
calling for OU administrators to continue their commitment to general fee reductions for graduate assistants and teaching assistants, in case of a general fee increase.
Graduate assistants and teaching assistants receive general fee buy downs, which are set amounts of money they receive on their electronic bills that reduce the amount they must pay toward the general fee.
[Budget Planning Council] is just tossing out scenarios and the numbers are tentative Senate President Tracy Kelly said. It hasn't been voted on yet.
BPC will make a decision by March as to how much it will increase the general fee for all students, Kelly said. The general fee for graduate students and undergraduate students is the same, $513 for full-time students per quarter. The amount of general fees varies based on credit hours.
According to the Student Tuition and Fee Schedule produced by BPC, a 1 percent increase is $5.13, 2 percent is $10.26 and 3 percent equals $15.39.
Kelly said there is a possibility of a 3.5 percent increase based on discussions at the previous BPC meeting. If the university were to raise the general fee by 3.5 percent, students would pay an extra $18 each quarter.
If such an increase were to be implemented
it would clearly work to undermine the progress Ohio University has made in recent years to strengthen its ability to attract and retain academically talented graduate students
the resolution says.
The wording of the resolution is vague because the university has not specified how much the general fee will increase for the next academic year, Kelly said.
In addition to the buy-down resolution, the senate appointed new member Terrence Schwing as the department representative for Physical Therapy. This leaves only a handful of the senate's 67 positions unfilled, Kelly said.
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Rachel Ferchak
