ULSU Service Profile: Travel and Conference Grants

Every once in a while, an awesome opportunity comes up and, oftentimes as a student, is impossible to afford.   An example of this would be the number of conferences held across Alberta, Canada, and even North America.   The ULSU is here to help make travelling to these conferences a bit easier on your wallet.   If you would like to attend a conference that will enhance your academic experience, you can apply for a Travel or Conference Grant from the ULSU!   Here is the process by which you apply:

1. Stop by the ULSU office (SU 180) and pick up your application form
2. Fill out the form including all information such as a budget, travel itinerary, proof of registration, proof of travel arrangements, and any other information that could be seen as important to the process.
3. The form will go to the next ULSU Executive Council Meeting at which, if all of the information and paperwork is in order, your request will be approved!
4. Come back to the ULSU office, pick up your cheque, and have fun/learn lots!

Just a couple of quick notes as well.   Make sure you apply at least 7 days prior to your departure.   It does take time to be approved, so you don’t want to be leaving without a cheque!

For more information on the Travel and Conference Grant policy, check this link:

http://www.ulsu.ca/userfile/file/Travel&ConferenceGrantPolicy.pdf

—

Andrew

Bill Nye: More than Just the Science Guy

With Bill Nye’s appearance growing close, the ULSU feels it necessary to notify you of a few things with regards to Mr. Bill Nye:

-Bill Nye can split atoms with his bare hands.
-Bill Nye’s sperm count is measured in moles/milliliter.
-Bill Nye knows how fast an electron is going… AND where it is.
-Bill Nye decides if Schroedinger’s cat is alive or dead.
-Bill Nye told Pluto that it was no longer a planet… and it listened.
-Bill Nye carries the fountain of youth around in a klein bottle in his back pocket.
-Bill Nye destroyed the Berlin Wall with common household chemicals.
-Gravity: Bill Nye’s idea.
-Bill Nye tutors Stephen Hawking.
-Bill Nye challenged a photon to a race in a vacuum and won.
-Bill Nye knows more than Laplace’s Demon.
-Bill Nye does his taxes in his head, and he’s a millionaire… draw your own conclusion.
-Bill Nye was the first person to orbit the earth… in only a lab coat and safety goggles.
-Bill Nye is the only person who is allowed in the lab area without goggles.
-While filming a Science Guy episode on particle physics, Bill Nye met his antimatter self. It was a battle of wits, since Bill and Anti-Bill couldn’t touch each other without annihilating themselves and most of the West Coast. Bill finally won by proving that the Universe itself is a figment of his imagination, and therefore he can do whatever he wants to it. Anti-Bill promptly vanished in a puff of logic.
-Santa Claus will soon begin contracting all gift giving to Bill Nye. Good children will receive gyroscopes, and bad children will have the thermite reaction initiated on their face.
-”When Chuck Norris has a problem, he asks Bill Nye.”
-Bill Nye counted to infinity 3 times, and still had not reached his IQ score
-Bill Nye makes his ice cream using milk, cream, sugar ,…..and cold fusion.
-Superman once told Bill Nye that he was completely indestructible, this led to Bill creating what he likes to call kryptonite.
-Avogadro’s Number is actually a misnomer since Bill Nye discovered it when asked to provide a PIN for his checking account.
-Bill Nye can decrease his own entropy without doing work.
-Bill Nye is more efficient than a reversible process.
-While the general public knows him as Chuck Norris, Bill Nye knows him as the Roundhouse Kicking Machine of Science.
-Bill Nye derived the Theory of Everything at age 5, deemed the world unworthy of its mighty and far-reaching applications, and destroyed all his work using the Theory of Everything Paper Shredder of Science.
-Some people can recite the first few thousand digits of pi. Bill Nye can recite the last thousand digits of pi.

—

Andrew

Textbook 101: Tech Savvy and Digital

There has been a recent movement in the textbook industry toward the digital market, and its becoming more and more appealing if you ask me.   For those of you who have tablet devices, I suggest you check out Inkling, a company who offers interactive digital textbooks for iPad users.   After watching a demo of what their digital textbooks can do, I was quite impressed to say the least!

Inkling offers users the option to buy individual chapters of a textbook.   In most cases, you will not cover an entire textbook in the course of a semester and only really need a few chapters.   It always seems like a waste to buy a 1500 page textbook and only make it through a third of the material and, in addition, buying only a handful of chapters that you need through this company comes in at a pretty low price.

At the risk of making this sound like an infomercial for Inkling, I’ll let you check it out, but the level of interactivity of the books they offer makes use of the tablet technology in a way that previous digital textbooks have not taken advantage of.   If I was in my first year, I’d even consider buying an iPad for this!

Here is a demo of a book to show you what I’m talking about:

There are, of course, many digital textbook companies out there.   The market seems to be a bit of a mess, but there are a few gems in there.   Have you bought any digital textbooks you’ve liked?  Lets hear about it!

Textbooks 101: Used Books, Loose Leaf Books, and Rentals

Here we are with part 2 of Textbooks 101!   I’m sure we all know where to find used books (and I’ll get to a couple of my favorite places later), but one thing that I hadn’t heard of were loose leaf books.   There doesn’t seem to be a single place which sells all loose leaf books, but before you go out and buy your textbooks from the book store, try checking amazon.com for loose leaf versions of your textbook.   Buying a loose leaf book along with a binder to hold it will generally save you up to 50% of the cost of the bound textbook!   I wish I had heard of this earlier in my academic career, but I’ll defiantly be searching for my final textbook purchase in loose leaf form!

Another option is to buy your books used.   The ULSU and IVCF run a used book sale on campus at which you can sell your old textbooks for which you have no use other than to keep you warm when your heater breaks as well as buy other students’ used books at heavily discounted prices.   Check that out (insert dates, times, and places here).

If the used book sale doesn’t have the book you need, a great site to check out is ABE Books.   They’ve got a ton of used books up on their site and the prices are quite reasonable.   Check them out at http://www.abebooks.com/.

In addition, if you would like to get your books from the U of L bookstore, they offer a rental program.   I rented my books a couple of semesters ago and it ended up saving me a solid chunk of cash while still getting me the books I needed without having to search around at used book sites.

And as always, the U of L book store usually has a few used textbooks available for which you can save a bit of money.

—

Andrew

Textbook 101: How Publishers Manipulate Costs For Students

With a new semester coming up, I’m sure one of the things we’re all looking forward to is hitting the book store and dropping a solid chunk of what you earned working the night shift at Sobeys this break on what essentially turn out to be expensive paper weights 4 months later.   Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some interesting articles on textbooks and how to save a bit of money.   I’d like to begin by re-posting an article former VP Operations Finance Allan Hall wrote a couple of years ago:

I remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the prices for my university textbooks. Textbooks are one of the most frustrating expenses for an undergraduate student. According to the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM), from 1997-2005, textbook prices have increased approximately by 280%. Over the same period, the Canadian Price Index (CPI) has only increased by 22%. Annette Bright, the manager of the University of Lethbridge Book Store, says that the average full time student should budget around $2000 for textbooks for each academic year. This represents more than 12% of tuition for a sizable portion of the student body.

Many students blame campus bookstores for these high costs but a more appropriate body to criticize would be the textbook publishers/distributors.

The market for textbooks for undergraduate students is very unique when compared to most traditional markets. The individuals that are responsible for deciding what textbooks are used for a course (the instructors) are not the same individuals that are paying for them. For many professors, content and quality are the main deciding factors for deciding what textbooks should be used for a class. While content and quality are important factors, this means that textbook publishers are under less pressure to keep textbook prices low.

Another factor that is driving up the cost of textbooks is the high frequency of new editions. Over the past decade the frequency of new editions for textbooks has increased significantly. According to Bright, it is now customary for a textbook publisher to issue a new edition approximately every two years. This is typically the industry standard regardless of how much change has occurred in the subject matter since the previous edition.  According to Jim Corven, a professor from Bristol Community College, “while updates are useful and necessary, the real differences from edition to edition are often insignificant and do not justify the publication of an expensive new edition”.

The inflow of new editions of textbooks also hurts the used textbook market. A new edition of a textbook may result in students being unable to resell a recently purchased textbook. The shorter shelf life of textbooks results in a lessened opportunity to sell a textbook. For many students, the used textbook market is the most functional medium of accessing lower cost academic materials.

Another item that is contributing to the high costs of textbooks is the increased practice of bundling. Bundling is the practice of shrink-wrapping additional materials such as CDs, study guides, activation codes for websites and foldouts with textbooks. This practice results in an increased price for the textbooks. The main issue with bundling is that instructors rarely include bundled materials in their curriculum. According to the State PIRG study, only 24% of instructors estimate that they “always” or “usually” use the additional bundled materials.

The high cost of textbooks for Canadian post-secondary students is also heavily influenced by Canadian importation regulations. In 1999, the federal government implemented importation regulations in the Canadian Copyright Act in an attempt to protect the Canadian publishing industry. This regulation requires Canadian bookstores to purchase from Canadian distributors as long as the distributor is selling within 10 percent of the American price or 15 percent of the international price. This allows Canadian publishers to sell their products above market price and pass the increased costs on to students. The proceeds from the imported mark-up go directly to the textbook publishers and not to the authors of the text. Also, the American branch for many book distributors will not do business with Canadian bookstores because of internal agreements with the Canadian branch of the organization.

The actions of textbook publishers have caused several groups to react.  In 2008, the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM), a group comprising of several student associations/unions and campus bookstores, was formed to create a national dialogue on academic materials. In addition to this, several organizations such as the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), Campus Stores Canada, the Canadian Booksellers Associations and CRAM have lobbied to the federal government about issues relating to academic materials.

While the textbook industry may be inherently flawed, there are many things that students can do to reduce their expenses.

• Buy used textbooks- Used textbooks are noticeably cheaper than their unused counterparts. Sometimes they even have helpful highlighted portions.
• Talk to your instructor- Before you purchase a textbook you should always ask your instructor if the textbook is necessary and if you can use an older edition.
• Look at bulletin boards- The hallways are usually filled with flyers from students trying to sell textbooks. You can end up getting a good deal and help out a fellow student at the same time.
• Ask friends- A really easy way to save some money is to borrow or buy books from friends who have taken the class already.
• Share a textbook- If you have a friend in the same class you can possibly consider this option.  The main downside to this is organizing when each of you gets the textbook.
• See if the library has a reserve copy- In some instances, the library will have a reserve copy of the text on hand.
• Visit local used book stores- If you are purchasing literature, a good option would be to visit local used book stores.  If it’s a fairly common text (e.g. Hamlet) it should be fairly cheap and easy to find.
• www.thothle.ca – This is a free web service that searches through several online bookstores to find the best possible deals. The main issue with purchasing online would be waiting for the text to ship.
• eBooks- eBooks are becoming a more viable textbook medium. They are paperless and typically cheaper than physical copies. The only downside is that some are sold on a subscription basis.
• Online Databases- Free online databases in recent years have become a more viable option for students. Some really good databases are Bibliomania, the Guttenberg Project, Open Courseware Consortium and Connexions.

Next up: Used Books and Loose Leaf Books

Got Old Notes? Trade Them In For Prizes!

Hey Everybody,

My commissioner, Julia Adolf, and I have noticed that the Test Bank has gone stale.   There are some pretty good reasons for this, mostly the fact that most professors do not want to release their intellectual property to us, but we have another idea.   We would like to begin collecting your old notes to create the ULSU Note Bank!

How many times have you missed a class and wanted the notes for that day?  Have you ever scoured the internet for supplemental materials such as notes or tutorials?  We’d like to compile as many of your old notes in one place online that you can access at anytime   We’ll even give your notes back to you after they’re scanned if you’d like!   Notes can be submitted online to note.bank@uleth.ca (include the course number in the subject line eg: PHYS 1050), dropped off at the many gift wrapped drop boxes we have around campus (fill out a form available at one of the boxes and attach it to your notes), or submitted right at the Students’ Union office!

Each set of notes you submit enters you into a draw for some awesome prizes!  Instead of throwing those old notes away or letting them rot on your shelf/hard drive, why not send them our way and help out your fellow students!

Check out the Facebook Event here

—

Andrew

VP Academic Report – November 2011

Hi All,

I’ve decided, in an attempt to increase the SU’s transparency, to post my monthly reports not only on www.ulsu.ca, but on this page as well for those who are interested.   One of my goals this year is to increase communication between everybody here at the SU and you, so hopefully somebody reads these!

-iULSU

-Bill Nye Update

-CAUS

-Committee Work

-Student Speaker Challenge

-Note Bank

-Tutoring Program

 

iULSU

iULSU, the mobile application for the Students’ Union, was released in early September for iOS and Android and was released for Blackberry devices in the last week of September.   The application aims to increase students’ ability to access information regarding the ULSU’s services and events as well as offer a couple of extra features such as a campus map and integrated moodle access.   If you haven’t gotten the application yet, it is available in all app stores under the name “iULSU”.

The application has had over 700 downloads at this point which indicates that over 10% of the student population is using iULSU.

 

Bill Nye Update

Ticket sales for the Bill Nye event continued this month and we have now sold over 2000 tickets.   Tickets were opened up to the public with priority going to schools in the area and we expect to sell the majority of what is left in the coming month.   If you have reserved tickets, they can be picked up at the SU office and if you haven’t gotten tickets yet, they can be purchased at the SU office as well.

 

CAUS

CAUS has begun its campaign for the upcoming provincial election set to be sometime between March and May of 2012.   We are collecting contact information of students from the U of A, U of C, and U of L with the goal of compiling a list of 50% of the students between all of the schools.   The information will be used to provide students with information regarding the voter registration process and other relevant items.   We will also be contacting students on voting day to remind them of the election, where their polling station is, what they need to bring with them, and maybe even provide them with transportation to and from the polling station.   Interested students can sign up at www.getoutthevote.ca.

This month, Zack and I also traveled to Edmonton to speak with the Minister of Advanced Education and members of the opposition.   These meetings went quite well and we have commitments from a number of politicians to ask questions written by us during question period.

 

Committee Work

With the return of September comes an increase in the amount of time spent reading documents and attending committee meetings.  The following committees (I sit on) have begun meeting this month in addition to committees which met regularly over the summer as well:

• Arts and Science Council
• General Faculties Council (GFC)
• GFC University Review Committee
• Learning Commons SMT
• CAETL Committee
• Student Awards Committee

 

Student Speaker Challenge

Along with LPIRG and SACPA, the question to be posed in this year’s Student Speaker Challenge has been written.   Students will be posed the question “Is there a systemic crisis in the world? If so, how can it be resolved?”.   Applications are being taken until December 9^th and the competitions will begin in January.  For more information and the application form, visit www.ulsu.ca.

 

ULSU Note Bank

This month, my commissioner, Julia Adolf, has begun one of her projects for the year.   The ULSU Test Bank, due to intellectual property issues, has gone stale for the past few years and we have decided to begin offering a new service to replace the Test Bank.   During the month of December and January, we will be collecting your old notes, scanning them, and uploading them to the ULSU website for all students to access when needed by them.

With each set of notes you submit, you are entered into a draw for gift certificates to the Zoo, concert tickets, apparel, and a bunch of other cool prizes!  Keep an eye out for the drop boxes around campus to submit your handwritten notes, bring them to the SU office, or submit them electronically to note.bank@uleth.ca.   Make sure you include the submission form found on the Students’ Union website at www.ulsu.ca.

Tutoring Program

This month, Karen Clearwater was able to create a learning strategist position and hire a qualified person to fill it.   This learning strategist will be the person running the tutoring program which will be progressing into the pilot phase this January.   We have set up a consultation committee for the program and have plenty of student representation on the committee.   If you’re interested in tutoring in mathematics, statistics, or writing, feel free to contact me and I’ll make sure you’re in the loop!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or just want to yell at me, feel free to contact me!

Andrew Williams

VP Academic Students’ Union
University of Lethbridge
Tel: (403) 329 2770
Fax: (403) 329 2224
Web: www.ulsu.ca

ULSU Service Profile: Advocacy

The ULSU does a lot of fun stuff, but when we’re not organizing Humans Vs. Zombies, a kick ass concert, or interesting speakers for you, we’re likely busy with our primary mandate: Advocacy.   We ensure that the student voice is heard at every level of government from right here at the University to the Prime Minister’s Office.   We are a part of two lobby groups:

1. CAUS – The Council of Alberta University Students represents the U of A, U of C, and U of L with over 70,000 students combined.   We lobby provincially for a number of things including increased financial aid, predictability in tuition, accessibility of PSE, and many other things.   For more information, visit the Council of Alberta University Students’ webpage and check out our lobby priorities for 2011/12 among many other publications here.
2. CASA – The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations is our federal lobby group representing over 300,000 students at 25 different institutions across Canada.   We lobby for student issues under federal jurisdiction such as grants, bursaries, scholarships, FNMI accessibility, and many other issues.   For more information, visit the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations’ webpage and check out their lobby priorities here.
3. Committees – The ULSU also makes sure that you are well represented here at the University of Lethbridge.   The University is run largely through committees which we have worked hard to secure student positions on.   Each year, we fill all of the student spots on these committees with interested students to ensure that students are part of the decision making process at the U of L.   For more information, check out the post I put up over the summer looking for students here.

Advocacy like this takes a lot of time and effort and is a very important part of what your SU does for you.

—

Andrew

Ground Broken on New Residence Building

Yesterday, Kyle Hammond (Residence Representative and President of ORS) and myself took a short trip to the ground breaking ceremony for the new residence building to be completed by Spring of 2013.   The new building will provide 259 more beds on campus, a much needed increase in the amount of on campus housing at the University of Lethbridge.

To me, the most satisfying aspect of this new residence, aside from increasing the number of beds on campus, is the level of student involvement in the planning process.   Housing reached out to students earlier in the year when the design was being finalized and asked what we would like to see and what would attract us to live on campus.   This is a prime example of the University’s student centred focus in addition to the World Cafe sessions held earlier this semester as well.

As the University grows and expands, it is wonderful to see that students are not forgotten and that our wants and needs are taken into consideration by administration.   For more info on the new building, you can check out today’s Lethbridge Herald.

ULSU Service Profile: Food Court

Another one of the many services the ULSU offers students at the U of L is the ULSU food court located in the SU building.   With 6 different food kiosks and a convenience store, there is likely always something appetizing to you on campus.   One of my favorites are the burgers from Tivoli!   We’ve got:

Red Fort Cafe: Indian Food

Icy’s: Mexican Food and Frozen Yogurt

Subway: If you don’t know what Subway serves, I’m not gonna tell you!

Hiroba: Oriental Food

Tivoli: Burgers, fries, veggies, and salads

Juice Fare: Smoothies, Sandwiches, and wraps

Coffee Company: Pretty self explanitory

Rockerman’s Service Centre: Convenience store with snacks, drinks, and a few other things like bus passes!

Seriously though, check out those burgers from Tivoli!!

—

Andrew

ULSU Service Profile: Emergency Assistance

When you’re in dire financial need, the ULSU is here to help you out!   We make available a small number of emergency grants to students who prove to us that they are in extreme financial need.   While the screening process is fairly extensive, if you can show us that you have exhausted all options and have no source of income when you most need it, we’ve got your back.   Here is the process to apply for Emergency Assistance:

1.    Emergency Financial Assistance is available to individual students with immediate financial need.2.    Individuals experiencing personal financial difficulty may apply for Emergency Financial Assistance to a maximum of five hundred dollars ($500.00).3.    Individuals may pick up an Emergency Financial Assistnce form at the ULSU office, rm SU180.  Please proivide as much information as possible in the application.

4.    The Executive Council has the authority to approve or deny approval for any Emergency Financial Assistance application.

You can download an emergency financial assistance form here:

http://www.ulsu.ca/?p=3336

—

Andrew

Student Speaker Challenge 2012

Hey Everybody,

Applications for the Student Speaker Challenge have opened with a grand prize of $500!!   The question being posed to students this year is “Is there a systemic crisis in the world? If so, how can it be resolved?” If you’re interested, you can download the application form from www.ulsu.ca or you can find all of the information below:

Building on the premise that in a democracy, an informed public makes the best decisions, SACPA, LPIRG, and the ULSU are collaborating to provide students with a forum to express their point of view on issues of significance. Recognizing that each individual has a unique perspective and an authentic voice, students will be given a chance to communicate their thesis to an audience and defend  it, thereby gaining and honing skills in developing and exchanging new  ideas.

This opportunity will take the form of a competition  in which students will address the topic “Is there a systemic crisis in the world? If so, how can it be resolved?” The speaker series will begin with four noon-hour sessions, each with 2 speakers addressing the topic and fielding questions on their thesis. A winner will be chosen at each of these sessions and will be promoted to the semi-finals.  Two students will then go on to the final session where a sole winner will be selected to receive the final prize. Winners at each session will be determined by a panel of judges.

Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to apply and presenters will be paired according to skill level (as assessed from application form), year of study, and thesis. There will be a total of eight participants with four of those advancing to the furthest rounds and one final winner. Prizes will be given out to the top four participants – $100 each for third and fourth place, $300 for second  place, and $500 for the winner. Out of the eight contestants we will accept a maximum of two graduate students.

The format will be such that in the first round, two presenters will face off, each having 15 minutes to present their thesis. After a five minute break, the presenter will then be asked questions from the audience and the judges for 15 minutes. The total length of the session will be one hour and ten minutes.

Student Speaker Challenge sessions are scheduled as follows.

Session 1 – Tuesday, January 24 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Session 2 – Wednesday, February 1 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Session 3 – Tuesday, February 7 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Session 4 – Wednesday, February 15 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Semi-Final Session – Tuesday, February 28 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Semi Final Session – Wednesday, March 7 – 12:15 – 1:30 – Ballroom A

Final Session – March 13 – 7:00 – 9:00 – Andy’s Place  (AH100)

To apply, please fill out the following application form. Applications must be submitted electronically to pirg@uleth.ca with Student Speaker Challenge in the subject line. The deadline for applications is Friday, December 9th.

For more information, please contact Sheila at pirg@uleth.ca, or 332-5243.

2012 U of L STUDENT SPEAKER CHALLENGE

APPLICATION FORM

Name:

Email:

Year of Study:

Faculty/ Major:

Public Speaking Experience (class presentations, etc.):

Why are you interested in applying for this?

How would you address the topic – “Is there a systemic crisis in the world? If so, how can it be resolved?”  Provide a paragraph explaining your thesis. (This can be a rough draft.)

Provide a short autobiography: (Please note that this information will be used for publicity, should you be accepted to the challenge.)

Bill Nye Tickets Available to Public!

Hey Everybody,

Until now, tickets to the ULSU and GSA Present Bill Nye have been reserved for University of Lethbridge students, faculty, and staff.   We have now opened ticket sales to the general public!   If any member of the public is interested in attending the event on January 23rd, 2012, they can be purchased at the Students’ Union office (SU 180) at the University of Lethbridge during regular office hours (Monday – Friday 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM) for $3.   We also ask that members of the public bring a non perishable food item to the event to donate to the ULSU Food Bank.   Join the Facebook event here as well!

If you have any questions, please contact su.academic@uleth.ca

Note:

We’ve been getting lots of questions about the target audience for this show.   To get an idea of what level Mr. Nye will be presenting on, please watch the video below from his lecture at the University of Texas.   The content will be similar.

—

Andrew

Student Cooking 101: Tuna Pasta

As a 5th year student, I’d like to think I’ve nearly mastered the art of cooking for myself with very little to work with and I’d like to pass on my accrued knowledge to you this year.   Here is the fifth bi-weekly installment of Student Cooking 101

Ingredients

Pasta
Tuna
Butter or margarine
Chips

Directions

Start off boiling your noodles and straining them.   Then, get a nice bit of butter (use your judgement) and put it into the bowl with the pasta.   Mix it around until its melted, add your grated cheese and mix.   Then, add the tuna and mix again until its mixed evenly through the pasta.   PUt it all on a plate and crumble some chips over the top and, BAM!  You’ve got it done!

If you’re feeling really ambitious and have some cheese left over, grate some on top and stick it in the toaster oven until the cheese melts and browns on top.   Delicious!
—

Andrew

CAUS Budget Submission Meetings

 

On November 3^rd Andrew Williams and I were in Edmonton to attend a series of meetings with the Council of Alberta University Students and MLAs holding portfolios related to post-secondary education. Our meetings were scheduled to discuss CAUS’ recommendations for the 2011/2012 Provincial Budget (http://caus.net/publications/2012-budget/) in addition to a few outstanding student concerns. Throughout the day we talked a lot about preventing market modifiers, regulating non-instructional fees, and increasing non-repayable assistance in addition to data collection and pse research, operating grants, and Elections Act reform. All of these discussions were framed under the idea of increasing Alberta’s post-secondary participation rate, which is currently the lowest in Canada. For the sake of time, I won’t explain each of these issues here and just trust that you’ve been following some of these issues the past couple years and have read our budget document.

NDP: Rachel Notley

We began our day by meeting with MLA Rachel Notley, the NDP’s education critic. The meeting ran rather smoothly, for the most part Mrs. Notley agreed with our positions. She was keen on knowing the costs behind most of our asks, and also shared concern that we were excluded in the Government’s budget consultations which have currently happening across the Province.

 

PC: Minister Greg Weadick

Our meeting with Minister of Advanced Education and Technology Greg Weadick went satisfactorily, but not as well as we could have hoped for. We were joined in the room by our counterparts from the Alberta Students’ Executive Council and the Alberta Graduate Council. While we prefer individual meetings with members of Government, we were happy to be joined by our friends from ASEC and AGC. It was a strong signal of the collaboration and coordination the student movement in Alberta has achieved this year.

Probably the biggest thing to come from this meeting was Greg’s commitment to action on mandatory non-instructional fees before the delivery of the next budget. While he has given us similar words in the past, this was the first time he gave us a date. We’ll use this to hold him accountable in the coming months, but it is also worth noting that we couldn’t pin him down on what specifically “action” meant. On market modifiers, Greg told us that he wouldn’t approve any new market modifiers without the approval of the students affected. We will certainly be using this criteria if any of our institutions pursue market modifiers this year. Our piece on non-repayable assistance, notably upfront grants and scholarships did not go nearly as well. Greg flat out disagreed with us and argued that the Ministry needed to focus on backend aid because it encourages completion, and because it can more effectively be used as a policy tool to keep graduates in Alberta. Simply put: backend aid doesn’t encourage participation remotely as well as grants and scholarships do. Additionally, while completion rates are a problem (we have a piece on debt remission to address this) in Alberta, retaining graduates are not. Arguably the biggest thing to come on Greg’s initiative was his interest in simplifying the Alberta Student Loan system. While we don’t have any precise details at this point, this item will definitely come across our plate again in the coming months.

Overall though, the meeting was definitely a success and we’ve got a lot we can work towards in the coming months.

Wildrose: Guy Boutilier

Our meeting with Guy Boutilier was far and away the most eccentric lobby meeting I have ever participated in. Guy showed up 20 minutes late (he had just driven in from Fort McMurray) but immediately raised the energy in the room with his outgoing character. At one point he had UASU VP External Farid Iskander standing up and framing his questions for Guy as if they were in question period, and at another moment had UCSU President Dylan Jones rapping. This meeting wasn’t all just fun and games though; we did get Guy to commit to giving us three questions in the real question period.

Liberal: Kevin Taft

Kevin Taft, the advanced education critic for the Liberals brought us back to normality during our meeting. Dr.Taft was quite knowledgeable about many of our issues and gave us an interesting idea on ancillary fees. He mentioned that we could potentially pursue legal action against our institutions over the mandatory non-instructional fees which they introduced. He cited a recent case where a court (I don’t know which) rejected a similar fee issued by a long-term healthcare provider. I don’t think that we’ll pursue this, but it was an interesting angle that I had not thought of prior. We finished the meeting by getting three questions from Kevin and the Liberals as well.