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Student Council launches peer advising system, supports tuition bill

Bill to allow undocumented applicants to Virginia universities in-state tuition

Student Council’s Academic Affairs Committee discussed the planned launch of a new peer-advising system in the next few semesters at its meeting Tuesday night.

Committee Chair Sky Miller, a third-year College student, said students had expressed interest in a peer advising system and the committee’s solution, called ULink, aims to connect upperclassman “advisors” with mostly first- and some second-year students.

Advisors will be trained in areas such as course registration, how to guide advisees through SIS and what advising resources are available for students.

ULink will target students in the College, Engineering School, Nursing School, Architecture School and Education School with some “consultants” for the Batten School and the Commerce School, Miller said.

The project is going to be a crucial focus for Council moving forward, said President Eric McDaniel, a fourth-year College student.

“This is going to be a 100-plus person organization,” McDaniel said. “It’s going to be a keystone project for the University.”

The External Affairs Committee also passed a resolution in support of House Bill 747, which would allow undocumented applicants to Virginia universities to pay in-state tuition rather than out-of-state rates. The resolution is sponsored by Vice President for Organizations Neil Branch, a fourth-year Batten student.

“There are students who may have come into the United States when they were four or five years old, who have gone through the process and find out in high school that they are not qualified [to receive in-state tuition],” Branch said. “It’s a heartbreaking situation.”

To be eligible, students must have graduated high school or obtained a GED, attended public or private school in Virginia for at least three years and provide evidence that they or their parent has paid Virginia income taxes for three years prior to enrollment.

The resolution will be brought before the general body next week.

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