University of Central Florida Student Government Association
Scholarship Committee
Student Government Association
October 29, 2015
3:00 PM
Black and Gold Conference Room (SGA)
MEETING MINUTES
I. Call to Order- 3:04 PM
II. Roll Call & Verification of Quorum-
PRESENT / ABSENTChair Devkota
Vice Chair Graves / ½ absent
Justice Sznapstajler
ILA Njeru / ILA Njeru
LJR Chair Ervin
CRT Chair Bayes
ORC Chair Bedgood
OSFA Representative Baptiste
SSAO Representative Phillips
SDES Representative Ortiz / SDES Representative Ortiz
III. Approval of the Minutes- approval by general consent
IV. Approval of the Agenda- approval by general consent
V. Announcements from the Chair-
a. SDES Representative Ortiz added
b. Scholarships will be released Friday, October 30, 2015 – will be added on the SGA website at 5PM
VI. Announcements from Committee Members- none
VII. Announcements from Non-Committee Members- none
VIII. Old Business-
a. Second Chance Scholarship
i. Chair Devkota read the requirements for the Second Chance scholarship.
ii. Chair Devkota: We must vote on offering the Second Chance scholarship in the Fall, in addition to the Spring scholarships.
iii. Chair Devkota: We will now move in to questioning.
iv. LJR Chair Ervin: Why is there no community service requirement?
v. ORC Chair Bedgood: The scholarship is based on grades and how to improve, not community service.
vi. Chair Devkota: Are there any further questions? Seeing none, we will move on to voting procedures.
vii. Chair Devkota: The Second Chance scholarship for the Fall semester passes 7-0-0
b. Working Through College Scholarship
i. LJR Chair Ervin: I propose the Working Through College Scholarship be added as a SGA scholarship. It would be 5 scholarships awarding $400 each to students who are working in order to get through school. Students applying for this scholarship must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 undergraduate credit hours, have a minimum 2.0 GPA, demonstrate financial need determined by the FAFSA, and provide a letter of verification from place of work demonstrating a minimum of 20 hours a week worked.
ii. Chair Devkota: We will now move in to questioning.
iii. ORC Chair Bedgood: Why is the GPA so low?
iv. LJR Chair Ervin: A typical working student does not have as high of a GPA as a student who is not required to work.
v. Chair Devkota: Are there any further questions? Seeing none, we will now move in to debate.
vi. ORC Chair Bedgood: I believe we should increase the GPA requirement to 2.5.
vii. OSFA Baptiste: I second that.
viii. Justice Sznapstajler: I believe we should require the student to be a full time student, enrolled in at least 12 credit hours.
ix. Chair Devkota: The altered edition of the scholarship now requires 12 credit hours and a minimum of 2.5 GPA.
x. Justice Sznapstajler: I move to go into debate. I move to vote.
xi. Chair Devkota: We are now in voting procedures. With a vote count of 7-0-0, the Working Through College scholarship passes.
IX. New Business-
a. Scholarship Presentations
i. Spring Admitted Student Scholarship – Jena Smith
1. Chair Devkota: Our first presentation is for the Spring Admitted Student Scholarship. Jena Smith will be presenting.
2. Jena Smith: This scholarship will allow Spring admitted students to feel more engaged, as they typically have {low GPAs}. Last year, 10 students applied
3. Justice Sznapstajler: Are the low GPA’s due to being a Spring student?
4. Jena Smith: Yes. Some of these students have had the college experience, however they have not found their way here at UCF. They are typically less engaged, less involved, and less motivated for school.
5. LJR Chiar Ervin: Are you considering first time in college as freshmen or transfers?
6. Jena Smith: Anyone with 30 credits or below.
7. CRT Chair Bayes: Are these students eligible for the LINK Loot Scholarships as well?
8. Jena Smith: They are eligible, I believe, however I am not aware if you have to be Fall student to apply or not for Link Loot.
9. Chair Devkota: Thank you for your presentation, Ms. Smith. We will now move in to debate.
10. LJR Chair Ervin: I really support this scholarship. I was in this position when I came to UCF.
11. ORC Chair Bedgood: I move to vote.
12. Chair Devkota: So moved. We are now in voting procedures. With a vote count of 7-0-0 the Spring Admitted Student Scholarship passes.
ii. Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence – Dr. Kimberly Schneider
1. Chair Devkota: Our second presentation is for the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence scholarship, presented by Dr. Kimberly Schneider.
2. Dr. Kimberly Schneider: This set of scholarships will be awarded at our Showcase of Undergraduate Research. We have grown over the past few years and are respectfully requesting a slight increase in funds to accommodate our growth in students.
3. Chair Devkota: Thank you for coming to present, we will notify you by Monday of our decision.
4. LJR Chair Ervin: I move to go into debate.
5. Chair Devkota: We are now in voting procedures. With a count of 7-0-0, the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence passes.
iii. Graduate Research Forum – Omid Sarayanibafghi
1. Chair Devkota: Our last presentation is for the Graduate Research Forum presented by Omid Sarayanibafghi.
2. Omid Sarayanibafghi: These scholarships are presented to graduate students who display excellence through research. The recipients are selected by the Graduate student staff and faculty. The College of Graduate Studies also allots additional money for these scholarships.
3. Justice Sznapstajler: What is the amount of each scholarship typically?
4. Omid S.: It varies based on the pool provided by the College of Graduate Studies.
5. Vice Chair Graves: Correct me if I’m wrong, but you are requesting a total of $6,000 for 20 $300 scholarships.
6. Omid S.: Correct.
7. Chair Devkota: Are there any further questions? Seeing none, we will move in to debate. Thank you for your presentation, Omid. We will let you know by Monday of our decision.
8. ORC Chair Bayes: Have they received this scholarship before?
9. SSAO Representative Phillips: Yes, they received $6,000 last year.
10. LJR Chair Ervin: I move to vote.
11. Chair Devkota: We are now in voting procedures. With a vote count of 7-0-0, the Graduate Research Forum scholarship passes.
X. Member Discussion-
a. LJR Chair Ervin: I move to go to informal.
b. Chair Devkota: There has been a motion to go to informal session to further discuss the SGA scholarships. With the cote count of 6-0-0, we are now in informal.
c. Chair Devkota: With the vote count of 6-0-0 we are now back in formal session. We will be moving on to miscellaneous business.
XI. Miscellaneous Business-
a. Chair Devkota: We still have to vote on the Fall scholarship, two amendments that have been proposed and a new scholarship for the spring semester.
b. Chair Devkota: The new scholarship that has been proposed for the Spring semester is the Working Through College Scholarship. The scholarship passes with a vote count of 7-0-0.
c. Chair Devkota: The first amendment is regarding the Transfer Involvement Scholarship. The amendment proposes that we add the following: “a memorandum stating how your involvement at UCF has enhanced your experience and how you plan to continue to be involved at UCF”, “An updated resume”, and “one letter of recommendation from an office or faculty advisor that verifies involvement in a club athletics, intermural sports or other registered student organizations at UCF.”
d. Chair Devkota: The additions to the Transfer Involvement Scholarship passes with the vote count of 7-0-0.
e. Chair Devkota: The amendment is regarding Campus Involvement Scholarship. The proposed amendment suggests that we change the number of awards from “20” to”16”.
f. Chair Devkota: The changes to the Campus Involvement Scholarships passes with the vote count of 6-0-0.
g. Chair Devkota: The next amendment is also the Single Parent Scholarship. This suggests that we change the award amount from “3” to “10”.
h. The changes to the Single Parent Scholarship passes with the vote count of 6-0-0.
i. Chair Devkota: Now we have to vote on the SGA Fall 2015 Scholarship as a whole.
j. Justice Sznapstajler: I move to vote on SGA Fall 2015 Scholarship.
k. Chair Devkota: There has been a motion to vote. The SGA Fall 2015 Scholarship passes with the vote count of 6-0-0.
XII. Final Roll Call - Vice Chair Graves left early.
XIII. Adjournment- 4:27 PM
This meeting is held in compliance with the Government in the Sunshine Act.
Funded by the Activity & Service Fee through the Student Government Association.
Chair Devkota
407.823.3291