Graduate students play an important role in determining benefits for graduate assistants.
The University Graduate Council makes a recommendation to the Provost each year on stipends and benefits. The collective experience of the Graduate School staff and UGC faculty members over the past 7 years is that COGS members are quite effective in advocating for GAs and bring issues of GA stipend and benefits recommendations to the full Graduate Council and to the COGS membership. COGS representatives vote on recommendations. A Student Advisory Committee provides input to the Student Insurance Division in MSU s Human Resources Department. This Committee, plus the COGS members in their meetings, deliberate on such items as changing benefit mixes forstudent health insurance.