Graduate Student Senate convened yesterday in a “strategy session,” as Senate President Dominic Barbato called it, to discuss the funding of graduate health care and dissertation filing fees.

Barbato suggested Ohio University spend $139,500 to fund health care for graduate students, an amount senators agreed was more realistic than the previous proposal of about $750,000. No resolutions were brought forward at the meeting.

The original proposal, which passed in October, would cover about 75 percent of health care costs — the newer figure would account for 15 percent.

Several senators said that although the request is much lower, it could still make a difference.

“We’re only talking about a very small amount of money that can make a big impact,” Barbato said.

Senator Shane Tilton said earning this funding is about getting the senate’s foot in the door and showing where its interest lies.

“Even the smallest amount will help our constituencies,” he said.

Senators brainstormed for ways to gather support for the funding, such as gathering student perspectives.

Senator Brittany Buxton said the senate should collect narratives from those affected by the current provided health care to show something tangible.

Along with the funding of health care, students expressed concern about the funding of dissertation filing.

Ohio University currently absorbs $10,000 each year to file graduate students’ dissertations through ProRequest, a service tied into the Library of Congress for cataloguing dissertations as public research documents. OU is one of only three universities in the state that does not charge graduate students for the fee.

As of next year, however, it will be the students’ responsibility to cover the fee the university previously took care of, which amounts to about $65 per student.

Senators discussed options for subsidization of the funding but came to no conclusion by the end of the meeting.

Senator Karen Greiner said that although this is a smaller problem, it exemplifies the students’ increased need for financial support from the university.

“It’s lemons,” she said. “Let’s make the lemonade.”