University of Central Florida Student Government Association

Scholarship Committee

Student Government Association

October 13, 2015

9:00 AM

Black and Gold Conference Room (SGA)

MEETING MINUTES

I.  Call to Order- 9:18 AM

II.  Roll Call & Verification of Quorum-

PRESENT / ABSENT
Chair Devkota
President Zona
Justice Sznapstajler / Justice Sznapstajler
Senator Njeru
LJR Chair Ervin
CRT Chair Perez / CRT Chair Perez
Senator Little / Senator Little
Shane Juntunen
OSFA Representative Sapp / OSFA Representative Sapp
SSAO Representative Phillips

III.  Approval of the Minutes- approval by general consent

IV.  Approval of the Agenda- approval by general consent

V.  Announcements from the Chair- none

VI.  Announcements from Committee Members-

a.  Ervin: CRT Chair Perez will be resigning, that’s why he isn’t here. New chair will be elected at the next senate meeting.

VII.  Announcements from Non-Committee Members- none

VIII.  Old Business- none

IX.  New Business-

a.  Fall Scholarships

i.  Chair Devkota: I have a packet of the fall scholarships for this year. Please take a look and let me know what needs to be edited.

ii.  LJR Chair Ervin: I have a question about the last scholarship. What is the Second Chance Scholarship?

iii. President Zone: It was an initiative by Melissa Westbrook to give students who have low GPA a second chance and demonstrate that they have improved their GPA.

iv. Senator Njeru: As for the Tutor Scholarship, do TAs qualify?

v.  Chair Devkota: If they are undergraduate TA, they most likely do not get paid so I believe they qualify.

vi. Shane Juntunen: Most Grad/PhD TAs go get paid so I do not think they qualify.

vii.  LJR Chair Ervin: Some students transfer to UCF with less than 60 credits. When I transferred, I had about 29 credits. A lot of transfer students would not qualify for the Transfer Involvement Scholarship. Wouldn’t the 60 credit hours requirement be a deterrent?

viii.  Shane Juntunen: We would need to speak with the Transfer and Transition Services to see what their criteria would be.

ix. SSAO Representative Phillips: Under the Transfer Involvement Scholarship, the year should be changed to 2014 not 2013.

x.  Chair Devkota: For the first scholarship (Campus Involvement Scholarship), it requires two letters of verification to be attached. Could we change that to one? I feel like students would have a hard time getting two letters of recommendation.

xi. Senator Njeru: Letter of Verification is different from letter of recommendation.

xii.  Shane Juntunen: Yes, they are different. When I write letter of verification, I literally write two sentences.

xiii.  Senator Njeru: When we post the scholarships online, we have to clarify the difference between letter of verification and letter of recommendation.

xiv.  LJR Chair Ervin: For the Patriot Scholarship, what is the minimum requirement of service for veterans?

xv.  Chair Devkota: They have to be involved with ROTC for a minimum of 2 years, currently enlisted for a minimum of two years or a veteran.

xvi.  President Zona: Do the Committee pick the recipients for the scholarships?

xvii.  SSAO Representative Phillips: Yes, the Financial Aid Committee picks them.

xviii.  Chair Devkota: I will look in to the edits that you all have pointed out. We will discuss it further at the next meeting.

X.  Member Discussion- none

XI.  Miscellaneous Business-

a.  Vice Chair nominations

i.  President Zona: I would like to nominate Senator Njeru.

ii.  Senator Njeru: I respectfully decline President Zona’s nomination.

iii. President Zona: I would like to nominate LJR Chair Ervin.

iv. LJR Chair Ervin: I respectfully decline President Zona’s nomination.

v.  Chair Devkota: We will postpone Vice Chair nominations until next meeting.

vi. LJR Chair Ervin: I would like to nominate President Zona.

vii.  President Zona: I respectfully decline LJR Chair Ervin’s nomination.

XII.  Final Roll Call- same as initial

XIII.  Adjournment- 9:38 AM

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