Tuition benefit for executive members approved at KSA special meeting of council
Executives can have up to $10,000 reimbursed each year of their tuition fees
Editor’s note: this article has been updated for accuracy.
The Kwantlen Student Association held a special meeting of council on Aug. 26 to amend the benefits in their Regulations to include tuition coverage for executive members, which went into effect immediately.
Executive members Armaan Dhillon, Lesli Sangha, Karan Singh, and Manmeet Brar were present and unanimously approved the amendment.
Each representative that is also an executive member “will be entitled to reimbursement by the Society for the cost of their tuition and other enrolment-related fees,” according to the Tuition Benefit Resolution draft provided to The Runner.
The reimbursement amount is limited to $10,000 per year for each executive member, excluding the first semester of the calendar year an executive’s term on council starts.
Under the KSA Regulations, changes to the honoraria or pay structure do not come into effect until April 1. However, in accordance with their bylaws, a motion was approved for the tuition benefit for executive members to start Aug. 26 at the special meeting of council.
According to the KSA bylaws, the council can “create, alter, or otherwise amend Regulations without notice and without a recommendation from the Governance Committee” if the motion receives unanimous consent of council members. Currently, Dhillon, Sangha, Singh and Brar are the only council members of the KSA.
The amendment draft states the tuition benefit cannot be claimed until the add/drop deadline at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has passed. For the fall semester, the deadline is Sept. 19.
“Service fees and penalty charges, including tuition adjustment penalties, not incurred as a direct result of enrolment in classes shall not be eligible for reimbursement,” states the Tuition Benefit Resolution draft that was provided to The Runner.
“This motion took four months of research, our legal counsel, our whole team of [the] executive secretary and executive director worked really hard to make this happen,” Dhillon said, KSA president, VP university affairs, and international student rep.
“This benefit is being given by most of the student associations around Canada, and we wanted to bring in this benefit in line with those student associations to make education much more accessible and affordable for the student leaders who come forward to serve in the KSA,” he said.
Another student association in Canada that offers a similar tuition benefit is the Cape Breton University Students’ Union in Nova Scotia. According to their Tuition Benefit Policy approved in April, the union will pay a portion of executive member tuition costs per semester.
The union president receives coverage for six credits per semester, up to a total of $1,756.80. Whereas vice presidents receive coverage for four credits per semester, up to a total of $1,171.08. This benefit does not include differential fees, lab fees, or other ancillary fees, and any more courses are not covered.
The Runner reached out to the KSA for comment but did not receive a response by the publication deadline.
