Friday, March 4, 2005
Should the SGA E-] ►oard receive a tuition break?
"No. What makes
them special?"
Amanda Charney,
COMBA 06
SGA officers receive hefty stipends
By Naomi Herr
staff writer
The SGA is the representation
for students, faculty and staff. It
serves as an advisory and con
sultative group to the student
body at Penn State University.
Members such as the president,
vice president and treasurer, all
receiving tuition breaks. Each
has specific duties that must be
carried out as well as maintain
ing a grade point average of 2.5.
The President of the SGA,
Scott Soltis, sits on the chair of
the Activity Fee Board and not
only represents the students,
faculty and staff here at
Behrend, but at University Park
as well. He calls and presides
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"No. What have they
done around here to
deserve it?"
LaCresha Huckabee,
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over meetings of the SGA and
represents the student body at
ceremonies
Soltis is a full time student
and not only has a full workload
of courses, but has to be a mem
ber of the Faculty Council and is
in charge of helping to write the
budget for the SGA. He is in
charge of planning and coordi
nating activities which can take
a lot of time and effort to get fin
ished.
Justin Curry, vice president of
SGA, is also a full time student.
He is in charge of assigning
committee directors and assist
ing the president in planning
activities. Curry sits on the
Faculty Council and is to per
form any duties that the presi
dent may not be able to do.
BCSCN 02
Soltis and Curry are the only
two within SGA that have a vote
in Faculty Council. The vice
president is the Chairperson for
the Traffic Appeals Board and
the Budget Committee along
with many other duties.
The treasurer deals with the
financial duties of all of the
clubs here at Behrend. Some of
those financial issues being
statements, withdrawals and
deposits and balancing of funds
within their accounts. The
treasurer is also in charge of
writing out a budget plan for the
SGA.
Curry said that they are the
only three in SGA that receive
stipends and "the amount varies
from year to year and is deter
mined by Student Affairs."
"Yes, because they
are humans and
deserve it."
Goran Jovanovic,
MRKTG 04
There are three different rates
for each position. Ken Miller,
director of Student Affairs,
explained that SGA could not
afford to provide a full ride for
all of them, but they do provide
half of the tuition for the presi
dent, a quarter for the vice pres
ident and a third for the treasur-
The idea for stipends came
hack into play a few years ago.
Miller said, "Several years
ago SGA voted to reinstate
stipends for three of the four
executive hoard positions. They
had been eliminated due to
budget restrictions."
Miller stated that before the
Student Activity Fee, there was
little money for student events
and after the Student Activity
et
~.)
No, because I don't •
•
think it's fair." •
•
Michelle Bencho,
ACNTG 08 •
Fee was brought into play, the
stipends were reinstated. The
purpose for reinstating the
tuition breaks had to do with the
amount of time the committees
put into college-wide meetings.
"It's a significant time com
mitment that generally prevent
ed people in those positions
from working. In fact, students
were not running for those posi
tions because they needed to
work and didn't feel they could
do both well," said Miller.
Other universities such as
Gannon and Edinboro do offer
full tuition breaks for their pres
idents. The only other person
here at Behrend that receives
this type of stipend is the direc
tor of LEB, but it is not linked to
tuition like the SGA's.
The Behrend Beacon I
"No, because public
officers don't get tax
breaks, why should
they?"
Rob McGahen,
MANGT 05
SGA Tuition
Breaks
President:
1/2 off tuition
In State: $5,013
Out of State: $7,955
Vice President:
1/4 off tuition
In State: $7,520
Out of State: $11,933
Treasurer:
1/3 off tuition
In State: $6,684
Out of State: $1.0,607
A school year Mimeo based •
20044005 Freshman 'TOMoin Cos