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No referendum for you
The UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) recently received a letter from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) saying that the UVSS will not be allowed a referendum on CFS membership – at least not willingly.
The letter, from CFS legal council Todd J. Burke, stated that the CFS is “not prepared to disregard the intention of the students who requested that their names be removed from the petition,” referencing a counter-petition filed with the CFS.
UVSS Chairperson James Coccola said the student society is currently reviewing options for proceeding in this matter with its legal counsel, David Borins.
The UVSS held an in camera meeting about the CFS at the Aug.30 board meeting.
Health plan to include vision, travel
The tedious process of changing the UVSS health and dental plan is finally complete, with a few new additions. UVic undergraduate students who subscribe to the health plan will now receive vision coverage and travel insurance, costing $7.25 and $6 per student, respectively.
Students will also save money on their administration fee. The UVSS Finance Committee has decided to reduce the fee to $29.97.
“The admin fee on the health plan was $36.96; that was collected over the premium and was pocketed by the UVSS last year,” said UVSS Director of Finance Kelsey Hannan.
“In seeing that admin fee and dealing with the realities of our budget that we’ve inherited, we recognize that we must, as quickly as possible, reduce the admin fee to a fair amount,” he said.
After the new administration fee and the additional coverage, the UVSS is still collecting an excess $15.28 from students, due to the fact the health plan fee was set at $288 before the plan was changed.
Hannan said that the UVSS Finance Committee voted to, if possible, return that money to students.
However, he added that this might prove difficult because the fees are collected by the university, which has already set its fees for the year.
“We’ve made it very clear that if we are forced to collect $288, we will. If we are unable to get the money back [to students], in good faith — to show that we’re not going to take it, to show that we’re serious about it — $15.28 will be placed in a separate account or will be collected separately,” said Hannan.
“If it is unable to go back to the pockets of students it will go into a health plan reserve fund which, in future years, can be used to reduce the cost of the health plan for students,” he said.
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Anete Smith Sept. 10, 2010, 2:40 p.m.
It is rather interesting for me to read this article. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.
Anete Smith
Kelsey H Sept. 11, 2010, 3:01 a.m.
I am pleased to inform everyone that as of today (Friday, September 10), the UVic Board of Governors has approved reducing the Health and Dental plan fee by $15.28. The new fee will be $272.72 instead of $288
Students who have already paid for their tuition and do not opt out of the plan will receive $15.28 as a credit for future semesters. Those who haven't paid for their tuition yet will now pay $272.72 for the plan instead of the $288 they were originally assessed for by UVic.
Kelsey Hannan UVSS Director of Finance
acer aspire notebook Sept. 20, 2010, 9:02 a.m.