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GPSO News and Notices
[Jan. 25, 2008]
Dental benefits for Student Academic Appointees starting with the 2008-09 academic year
James Wimbush, dean of the University Graduate School, said dental benefits have been a high priority for graduate students who conduct essential work for the university, and the IU administration worked to find a way to provide them.
“We see this as very important. It adds to their quality of life,” Wimbush said.
Student Academic Appointees are typically graduate students who are paid a stipend to teach or help teach classes, carry out research and scholarship and perform other academic duties. There are 3,800 Student Academic Appointees at IU Bloomington and 650 at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.
The university will pay the full cost of premiums for the dental plan. The plan will cover the entire cost of preventive care, while students will pay deductibles for restorative and major dental work. The maximum benefit is $500 a year. The plan will not cover orthodontia.
As with the medical benefits that Student Academic Appointees receive, the students will have the option of purchasing dental coverage for their spouses and children.
The dental coverage will cost the university about $1.1 million in 2008-09, with the cost borne by the academic units for which the students work.
Wimbush said IU is one of the few Big Ten universities that, until now, hasn’t offered dental benefits for Student Academic Appointees. “This makes us more comparable to our peers. It does help make us more competitive,” he said.
UITS To Offer AI Printing Bonus Beginning Fall 2006
[ doc ]
May 9, 2006
Beth Van Gordon, Director of Learning Technology Operations, recently announced that beginning with the fall 2006 semester UITS will offer a bonus printing allotment each semester for AI's who have faculty sponsorship. This exciting news comes as acknowledgement of the fact that AIs often use their personal printing quotas to print materials for the class(es) they teach and is a move to ensure AIs are not penalized for preparing instructional materials. The following links and text explain which students are eligible and how to sign up.
http://kb.iu.edu/data/atvl.html
In the IUB STCs, what is an AI printing bonus and how do I get one?
Indiana University recognizes the value of associate instructors (AIs) to its instructional mission and encourages its graduate students to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them as associate instructors. Associate instructors often have to prepare and print materials for distribution to the classes they teach.
Normally, these materials are prepared on departmentally owned printing resources. However, from time to time, a graduate student may print these materials using Student Technology Center (STC) resources. In these instances, the printing is charged against the graduate student's personal STC printing allotment.
To avoid penalizing the student for their work-related printing, several years ago the IU Bloomington STCs established a mechanism by which departments may provide their students with a supplemental allotment so students may put their personal allotment toward their own academic objectives.
It is important that graduate students do not lose access to their STC printing allotment in order to address their work-related printing needs. Beginning fall 2006 semester, graduate students working as associate instructors, whose departments are unable or unwilling to fund their work-related printing through a supplemental allotment, will be eligible for a 500-page AI bonus. This bonus must be requested by the faculty member responsible for the course the graduate student associate instructor is teaching. To request this bonus, the faculty member should email stcprint@indiana.edu , put "AI bonus" in the subject, and include the course number and the username of the associate instructor receiving the bonus.
This is document atvl in domain all. Last modified on May 05, 2006.
http://stcweb.uits.indiana.edu/apps/public/document.dfm?id=6580
Bonus Allotments
Graduate students working on their Dissertation are eligible for a one-time 500-page Dissertation Bonus. This bonus must be requested by the student's faculty advisor.
Beginning the 2006 Fall semester, graduate students working as Associate Instructors -- whose departments are unable or unwilling to fund their work-related printing through a Supplemental Allotment -- will be eligible for a 500-page AI Bonus. This bonus must be requested by the faculty member responsible for the course the graduate student AI is teaching.
Statement for University Insurance Equity
Resolution 06-B
Proposed increases to the SAA Health Plan negatively impact SAA's families and decrease diversity of the graduate and professional student population by adversely affecting recruitment, matriculation, and retention.
April 7, 2006
WHEREAS, three health insurance plans are available to IU-Bloomington employees:
| Employee | Employee/Spouse | Employee/Children | Family | |||||
| Annual Premiums |
Employee's Contribution |
Support | Employee's Contribution |
Support | Employee's Contribution |
Support | Employee's Contribution |
Support |
| PPO-Plus | 1,384 | 4,119 | 4,644 | 8,707 | 3,734 | 7,167 | 5,799 | 9,360 |
| PPO $900 Deductible |
12 | 3,386 | 12 | 8,273 | 12 | 6,765 | 49 | 9,360 |
| Blue Preferred Primary POS |
12 | 3,828 | 610 | 8,707 | 441 | 7,167 | 1,219 | 9,360 |
WHEREAS, Indiana University contributes up to $4,119 towards individual premiums of 100% full-time equivalency (FTE) employees, $8,707 for individual-plus-spouse premiums of 100% FTE employees, $7,167 for an individual-plus-children premiums of 100% FTE, and $9,360 for a family premium of 100% FTE employees; and,
WHEREAS, a student academic appointee (SAA) at Indiana University typically works 50% FTE;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Representative Assembly of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization asks the Board of Trustees of Indiana University to apply 50% FTE to all SAA individual, spouse, and dependent health insurance premiums, thereby aligning graduate and professional students' benefits with their FTE status by contributing half the support offered to the University's full-time employees.
[ Additional Explanation for Insurance Equity ]We are not simply asking for more money. Rather politically, we ask to align ourselves to full-time employee support, reaping benefits when full-time employees receive improvements. We are not considered employees and half-time employees at IU receive no benefits. A few raise this issue, so to be clear we do not ask to become half-time employees.
We ask for 50% of the money IU subsidizes full-time employee health premiums because our status as student academic appointees (SAAs) is considered 50% full-time equivalency (20 hours a week). At the moment, IU supports SAAs by less than half, the difference is ~$600 per saa, ~$2500 per family. We want trustees to impose a policy that provides for us over time, not just today.
Statement Against Asymmetrical Disbursement
of Fellowship, Grant, and Scholarship Award Funds to Students
Resolution 06-A
April 7, 2006
WHEREAS, disbursement to graduate students of fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds for the Spring semester of a given academic year are often made to the receiving student's Bursar Account on or before the 31st of December of the calendar year preceding the academic term for which they are intended; and,
WHEREAS, under current law in the United States of America, fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds (less funds paid toward tuition) qualify as taxable income which must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service; and,
WHEREAS, fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds intended for the Spring academic term that are disbursed on or before the 31st of December of the preceding calendar year are - in accordance with federal law - considered as income for that preceding year, which greatly increases the receiving student's gross annual income, although that total may be sharply disproportionate in terms of the student's mean income over the two calendar years for which the fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds are intended; and
WHEREAS, such asymmetrical disbursement of fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds for the academic year can result in (1) a significantly higher tax liability for the receiving student even as it simultaneously increases the total taxable income of the calendar year of the Fall academic term for which no federal withholdings have been taken, and (2) a significantly higher mean tax liability over the two calendar years for which the fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds are intended, despite the proportionally lower income in the calendar year of the Spring academic term; and
WHEREAS, the significant tax liability increase over any number of years that can result from the date on which fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds are disbursed to the receiving student's Bursar Account unnecessarily reduces the effectiveness of any fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds awarded by Indiana University (and/or academic and administrative units thereof) in terms of the actual income received by the student, thereby (1) potentially adding to the financial distress experienced by many graduate and professional students and (2) effectively reducing the value of such fellowship, grant, and scholarship award offers toward recruiting the highest caliber of graduate and professional students for Indiana University;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Representative Assembly of the Graduate and Professional Student Organization asks all academic and administrative units to identify and remove barriers to the institution of a new policy by which fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds awarded by Indiana University (and/or academic and administrative units thereof) may only be disbursed to the receiving student's Bursar Account in the same calendar year of the academic term for which its use is intended, and to institute such a policy before the beginning of the 2006/2007 academic year; and,
The GPSO requests that Deans and administrators in units currently responsible for the disbursement of fellowship, grant, and scholarship awards report to the GPSO steps they are taking to address and correct this problem; and,
The GPSO requests the Provost, the Bloomington Faculty Council, and the Dean of the Graduate School to monitor the progress of academic and administrative units as they develop an improved system to insure the fair and equitable management of fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds.
[ Good News! ]Within a day, the administration moved to resolve this issue. Within a week, the financial aid office has made the necessary arrangements to avoid asymmetrical disbursement of fellowship, grant, and scholarship award funds to graduate students.
Spring disbursement dates for 2007:
- Graduate and Law students - January 2, 2007
- Optometry OD students - December 29, 2006
Note: Optometry chose not to alter disbursement dates for OD students. They will pay taxes on their Spring disbursements for 2006. The rest, including vision science students, will pay taxes on their Spring disbursements for 2007, avoiding the tax implications noted in the resolution.