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In response to a congressional decision to deny graduate students subsidized student loans, GPSA raised $49,000 in scholarship money that will be allocated to graduate students this semester.
Beginning July 1, graduate students are no longer eligible for federal subsidized loans, which are loans from the government that don’t have an interest rate and don’t have to be paid back until six months after graduation. Although graduate students have access to unsubsidized loans, unsubsidized loans have a fixed interest rate of 6.8 percent that will continue to accrue interest even while students are in school.
GPSA Executive Finance Committee Chair Sarah Coffey said GPSA started the Graduate Scholarship Fund and raised $49,000 in scholarship money in order to close the gap that was left after graduate students were denied subsidized loans. She said former President David Schmidly’s office matched the $4,000 in donations collected from UNM alumni and the $20,000 from a GPSA Council donation, and $1,000 was donated by the Vice President of Student Affairs Cheo Torres.
“GPSA was outraged that grad students were being denied the opportunity for funding,” Coffey said. “So we decided to put together this scholarship to give graduate students that extra push to graduate.”
Coffey said the GPSA scholarship is nondiscriminatory and that GPSA implemented an internal FAFSA application so students don’t have to have a social security number in order to receive funding.
She said GPSA is still deciding when applications will be accepted, when recipients will be chosen and how many recipients will be allocated funds, but that recipients must be within three semesters of graduation in order to be eligible for funding.
“We’re still discussing how many students will be allocated the scholarship,” she said. “We’re hoping to accept applications in October and actually give out the funds to the recipients in November, but those dates are subject to change depending on the council.”
Lobos for Legislation
GPSA President Marisa Silva said GPSA has already begun discussions with Lobos for Legislation, a University alumni committee that assists communication between the University, state representatives and representative candidates. She said one of the main priorities is protecting Higher Education Bond C, a bond issue on the 2012 general election ballot that allocates money to building maintenance of New Mexico colleges and universities.
Bond C would allocate $19 million in funding to UNM for University building improvements and renovations.
“This is a serious issue and we have to come together as students and as a University and address this issue,” she said.
Graduate Resources Bookmark
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Silva said that, with the help of the Graduate Resource Center, GPSA and GRC members compiled a list of graduate resources and designed a bookmark for students. The bookmark includes information about grants, including grant amounts and application deadlines, as well as a directory for graduate resource centers and organizations.
Silva said GPSA has never had a system that clearly outlined graduate resources and that it was necessary to compile this list in order to help students successfully complete their graduate degree.
“We’re streamlining the information into a one-stop-shop for all the information you need about rewarding organizations on campus,” she said. “Our job has always been to be a resource center and to connect grad students to those resources and act as a social hub to offer that support.”
Silva said that in the future, GPSA and ASUNM might collaborate to make a bigger list of resources that will also include undergraduate information.
“We’re trying to make everyone’s life easier,” she said. “We need to ensure students are finding and getting the support that they need and make sure we’re seeing our graduate students graduate.”
