The GPSC also acts as a service agency for graduate and professional students. The GPSC Office maintains information on financial assistance opportunities, including assistantships, fellowships, travel funding, internships, and research grants. GPSC is also concerned with the social and intellectual welfare of graduate and professional students. The GPSC has steadily increased its ability to defend the interests and promote the welfare of the graduate and professional students it represents. Like other constituency groups, the GPSC has a significant impact on the decisions made by the Administration and Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Administrators seriously consider the advice of the constituency groups before making decisions.
The GPSC provides the springboard from which to launch active campaigns for desired changes. As the recognized representative of graduate and professional students, the GPSC is the best channel through which to initiate student-oriented reforms. In brief, the GPSC conducts a variety of programs to meet graduate and professional student needs. It has the ear of the Administration and Board of Trustees and is the means by which graduate and professional students can initiate change. The president is also the official spokesperson to the university Administration.