Reducing health care fees and uniting graduate students are just two goals of Graduate Student Senate this year.

The senate will aim to help secure financial support for graduate students and facilitate a smooth transition from quarters to semesters, said Peter Wickman, the new president of senate, at its first meeting of the year last night.

He said he hopes to reduce health care subsidies and the general fee for graduate students because Ohio University has some of the highest fees in the state.

Graduate student tuition is $3,126 per quarter for in-state students and $5,790 per quarter for out-of-state students.

Student health coverage for domestic and international students is $338 per quarter.

Such high fees make OU a less appealing choice for graduate students, Wickman said.

“It is so vital to attracting and retaining graduate students,” he said.

Wickman is also on the committee that plans the university’s transition from quarters to semesters in 2012.

“There is an ambitious series of meetings,” he said. “It is a staggeringly big job.”

Moving to semesters will ideally improve course offerings and curriculum, he said, adding that the semester calendar will give graduate students more time to research and write papers.

“We’re hoping to come out on the far side with a stronger program to facilitate graduate education,” Wickman said.
Senate also will work to recruit members for the senate and hold events for graduate students.

One event, called “Speedy Connections,” will be “like speed dating without the romantic aspect,” he said.

Wickman’s Graduate Solidarity Party, which ran unopposed, swept all of the executive positions in the election last May.

 The next meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Sept. 29 in Walter Hall Room 235.