Students occupying leadership roles within certain governing bodies at Ohio University receive university-issued scholarships and stipends as forms of compensation for their positions.
The president, vice president and treasurer positions in Student Senate and Graduate Student Senate — two organizations with decision-making authority and influence at OU — are awarded various scholarships and stipends based on level of leadership.
Jim Sabin, a university spokesperson, said the treasurer and vice president of Student Senate each receives a yearly half-tuition scholarship while they serve in those specific positions, plus individual non-resident fees if applicable. The president of the body receives a full-tuition scholarship, plus a non-resident fee, if applicable.
For the 2021-22 academic year on OU’s Athens campus, the total cost of in-state tuition and fees is $12,840, and the total out-of-state tuition and fees amount to $22,810, according to the university’s website.
Sabin also said the scholarships are paid through OU’s central scholarship pool, and the scholarship approval was awarded in 1994 by Gary Moden, associate provost emeritus and professor in the Patton College of Education.
The compensation scale of Graduate Student Senate, or GSS, differs slightly from that of Student Senate. The treasurer and vice president of the body each receives a $5,000 supplemental stipend per academic year. The president, however, receives a full tuition scholarship, plus a $15,000 stipend per academic year.
Those amounts are funded through the Graduate College base budget, Sabin said.
Although the president position of GSS is compensated more than the other two officer positions, Charlotte Yang, treasurer of GSS and a Ph.D. student studying translational biomedical sciences, said any compensation helps her balance her schoolwork and responsibilities on GSS.
Considering the workload she has taken on in GSS, Yang said the $5,000 stipend is not sufficient, but it is better than nothing. Without it, she said she would not be in her current position as treasurer but would still be a part of the body because she is dedicated to it and sees it as her “happy place.”
“If I don’t get paid, my priority is still my own research because this is my fifth year, and the pandemic has slowed me down from research in lab last year,” Yang said. “If I don't get paid, it will be a drawback for me.”
Remington Burwell, vice president of GSS and a Ph.D. student studying plant biology, also said the stipend he receives is not representative of the work he does in his position, though he understands why the university structures his compensation that way.
Burwell said the $5,000 stipend is based on a five-hour work week model. Per university policy, working hours as a student are capped at 20 hours per week, so the vice president position is compatible with other working commitments at OU.
Despite his understanding, Burwell said he wishes more positions within GSS could be paid in order for more valuable work to be done by the body. Like Yang, he said knowledge of the stipend affected his decision to run for his position, as his academic program is his priority at OU.
“Proper compensation goes in line with motivating people to do the job, so if there were more positions, more executive positions that were paid that fit the lifestyle of a graduate student, I think that would be very attractive and would lead to the success of the organization as a whole,” Burwell said.
Contrary to Yang and Burwell, Joseph Elikem Kofi Ziorklui, president of GSS and a candidate of the master’s of financial economics program, said knowledge of the compensation did not affect his decision to run. To him, the biggest motivating factor in his decision to run for president was his passion to serve others. Compensation is a secondary factor, he said.
“(The compensation) has helped me reduce the fees that I'm paying this semester and what I'll be paying for the next semester, which I believe is a good thing because you should be able to have a sound mind to be able to serve and then work effectively, not thinking about any other financial obligations,” Ziorklui said. “Of course, when that happens, you have a divided attention, which will affect your ability to serve and work as mandated.”
Like Yang and Burwell, Student Senate Treasurer Simar Kalkat, a junior studying finance business analytics and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said one of the reasons she put passion and effort into her treasurer campaign was because of the half-tuition scholarship she receives.
She also said she sees her scholarship as a way to invest more time and energy into campus life instead of getting another job on or off campus and that the scholarship is not provided without commitments.
“It's important that we're using the scholarship to validate why we're putting time and effort into the (organization),” Kalkat said. “I think a lot of people might misinterpret it, like, ‘Oh, you're going to get this position, and it's like an automatic scholarship. You don't have to work for it.’ You're getting this scholarship because you're putting in 10, 15, 20 hours a week for it.”
Becky “Eliza” Ivan, president of Student Senate and a fifth-year studying political science pre-law and sociology-criminology, and Elaina Tartal, vice president and a senior studying political science and criminology, both said the compensation they receive did not affect their decisions to run for their positions.
Ivan said she is grateful for the tuition scholarship she receives, as it has removed financial constraints and allowed her to be more present in her responsibilities on Student Senate.
Mirroring Ivan’s opinion, Tartal said the scholarship reflects her workload on Student Senate and provides her with more opportunities to work less outside of the body, allowing her to focus more on it.
