Changes in the works for stipend policy

One of several potential changes to the Dean of Students’ Educational Stipend Program and Policy is raising the stipend cap for student government to $200,000, a recommendation from the Educational Stipend Policy Committee.

The Associated Students of Portland State University plan to use the additional funds to compensate Student Senators, a group that has never been consistently paid in the past, said President Hannah Fisher. “Student government is going up about $69,000,” said Aimee Shattuck, director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs.

ASPSU’s current stipend cap is approximately $131,000, meaning that is the maximum amount of money student government has to pay every student receiving a stipend while working for the student group.

In addition to ASPSU’s increase, there may be a 6 percent increase in the stipend amounts for all student groups across the board. When the stipend committee met two years ago, it opted to propose a 10 percent increase for all student groups because the committee had not convened to revise the stipend policy in three years. “It’s going to increase access incredibly,” Fisher said. “The amount of access increases involvement, which increases activity.”

In addition to the increase in stipend caps for each student group, the maximum amount that students can earn at each position level, labeled as types, may rise risen 5 percent.

The position types range from one to five–ascending from lowest to highest stipend amount–and each student group has a specific number of each type, as outline by its budget. The stipend amount for each type corresponds to the amount of responsibility expected for the position, so the higher the type number the more responsibility.

With the increase in the stipend type caps, for example, a student in a type one position would see a jump from $235 per month to $247 per month.

To keep up academic standings, graduate students receiving a stipend may now have to maintain a 3.0 GPA instead of the previous requirement of a 2.0 GPA. Undergraduates will still have to achieve a minimum 2.0 GPA in order to receive their stipend.

Another potential change going in to effect for 2009-10 is a clarification to the appeal process for students in danger of losing their stipends because they have been deemed ineligible.

Students will now need to appeal in writing to the Dean of Students Office within two weeks after they have been notified that they will be losing their stipend. A student group can also appeal only once every four terms. “These are all recommendations that will be effective in fiscal year 2009-10,” Shattuck said.

Meeting every two years, the stipend committee has the responsibility of reviewing the existing policy, developing recommendations for revisions that apply to student stipend positions and updating the policy to align with changes that have occurred since the policy was last revised.

With this year being the first time the committee has met in a couple years, there were new obstacles on the table waiting for the committee when they convened for the first time months ago.

Since the stipend committee has finished its deliberations, revisions to the stipend policy have ceased and the proposed changes have been sent to Dean of Students Michelle Toppe. “The Educational Stipend Policy Committee has completed their work and submitted a final version to me,” Toppe said. The next step is to send the policy changes to the General Student Affairs Council. “The General Student Affairs Committee needs to convene in and approve the policy before it goes into effect. Once students have been appointed by ASPSU to be part of this committee and we have a complete GSAC, we will schedule the meeting in which we will seek approval of the revised policy,” Toppe said. Moving forward with their end of the finalization process, ASPSU has recently assigned student positions to the general student affairs council. “I’ve already assigned all the students so that committee is currently filled,” Fisher said.

The secretary of the Faculty Senate, Sarah Andrews-Collier, must appoint the students for their positions to be considered official. The finalization process is progressively becoming concrete, Fisher said.

“They should be done relatively fast,” Fisher said. Proposed changes to stipend policyThe following are changes proposed by the Educational Stipend Policy Committee

ASPSU stipend cap increases from $131,000 to $200,000

Overall student group stipend increase of 6 percent

Maximum amount students can earn increases by 5 percent

GPA requirement for grad students may increase from 2.0 to 3.0