Student Council's Legislative Affairs Committee yesterday evening proposed the creation of an education summit which would assemble state legislators and students during the summer to discuss the state's role in higher education funding.
Legislative Affairs Committee Chair Jonathan Klaren, a third-year College student,, said he thought the summit was particularly important given the recent tuition increase which will affect University students in the next academic year.
He said he hoped Council would be able to bring legislators to the meeting to directly speak to students about the different processes involved in determining University funding. Klaren also said maintaining the balance between tuition costs, enrollment and state appropriations is essential. "[The General] Assembly is working to keep U.Va. adequately funded, while curbing tuition costs and making sure enrollment doesn't run rampant."
Klaren said the issues surrounding rising tuition and enrollment were pertinent to all of the state's public institutions, not just the University. He added that Council hopes the education summit will engage students and legislators in a holistic discussion about these issues.
"I would love to have that round table at the University and open that opportunity for students," Klaren said. "I need the students to understand how legislator funds are getting to the University."
During the meeting, Council members proposed that the event should occur during the summer to accommodate legislator campaign schedules. Though the event is still in the early planning stages, Klaren said Council had already reached out to the office of Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, about becoming involved in it.
At yesterday's general body meeting Council also formally approved second-year College student Maggie Schwartz as the new Scholarship Committee chair. The committee awards both need-based and merit-based scholarships using money allocated to the Council by outside organizations, such as the U.Va. Alumni Association, according to the committee's website..
Council Vice President for Administration Ann Laurence Baumer, a second-year College student, said these outside organizations allocate the funds to the Scholarship Committee, rather than awarding the scholarships themselves, to generate a non-biased decision about who merits scholarship money. She said non-Council organizations ask the Committee to conduct blind readings of applications and select a qualified winner from the pool of applicants.
In the upcoming months, the committee will read several hundred applications for 20 Alumni-Student Cooperative Scholarships worth $2,000 each, which are contracted through the Alumni Association.
Schwartz said the committee also awards scholarships from the Off-Grounds Housing Office, and added she hopes to see an increase in the number of these awards in the upcoming year.
"For off-Grounds housing, we only give out three or four $1,000 scholarships, so we're hoping to secure more funding for off-Grounds," Schwartz said.
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