Success! Your participation in surveys saved you money!

The Graduate Assistant Advisory (GAAC) council would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to all the Graduate Assistants (GAs) that participated in the surveys or provided feedback over the past year on cost of living and health insurance coverage. The swift information you provided in those surveys was very persuasive to the university administrators that made the decision to completely cover the $714.00 (19.2%) increase in health insurance premiums this year. 

As you may recall, the university administrators were faced with the hard decision to either purchase a cheaper health care plan that would raise the out of pocket costs if a GA visits a doctor, or to find the money to cover the increase to keep our insurance the same. One of the proposed solution was to ask GAs to pay a portion of the $714. But because of your feedback and participation, they recognized the financial and health impacts of both changing the health care policy or asking GAs to pay a portion of the increase. And so the outcome is that we will have the same insurance and the university will not ask GAs to pay for the cost increase this year.

Therefore, please continue to STAY INVOLVED with the GAAC as this issue will come up again in January. Additionally, if you have any other concerns related to your working conditions, please reach out to us at any time.