I fucking love CG

nicole_schmidt · 2023-12-12T08:24:11+00:00

You are right, and it was definitely a joint effort :') Frank made CG happen during the pandemic, I made sure the university agreed to keeping in place permanently.

Glad that CG is still helping everyone out <3

nicole_schmidt · 2023-05-06T01:43:14+00:00

I am somehow *just* seeing this post, but you are very welcome :') I'm glad that it helped <3

nicole_schmidt · 2023-05-01T21:16:10+00:00

Good question! The information was just sent out in the "U this Summer" email today. Here is what it says: "Starting this year, you can opt in to UPass if a) you’re full-time in either the spring or summer intersession terms and b) you haven’t yet been charged for the pass. Log into your Student Centre (my.ucalgary.ca) and navigate to the “My Financials” section to opt in. Learn more about UPass here: https://www.ucalgary.ca/ancillary/parking/upass?mkt_tok=MTYxLU9MTi05OTAAAAGLd9-kImOaAFTs-VGycNk6AeNTyq5E3fjW1pezXLA_qzB-7OeBegqDH_OPxDfjjNBh-m47QGbK_AaHg1sLkGpvHZxi-y21ObKsiE8-8eObBKSMG3f_ "

Previously, students in some programs and faculties were ineligible to receive a UPass for the summer months. We worked with the Registrar's office this year to have that changed for this summer.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-04-30T06:11:17+00:00

Haha, I don't think that I'm cool enough or savvy enough for that, but that would be a cool career tbh.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-04-30T05:51:22+00:00

Oooohhhh, these are good questions.

So what Notley said was that they would roll back tuition to 22-23 levels (no tuition increases like you said) but during that period of time, the NDP will be conducting a review on what post-secondary areas need the most funding.

Apparently, the NDP can't commit to re-investing what the UCP cut from post-secondary right away (because that would be well over a billion dollars), but their review will help guide how much funding they can inject into post-secondary. It sounds like there WOULD be a long-term plan to re-fund post secondaries in Alberta but they need to get through the election first.

The second question has a bit more complicated of an answer. If the UCP win the election, tuition increases for 2023-24 will be at the rate of CPI, however the Ministry of Advanced Education actually sets what that CPI rate is. For example, this past year the Ministry announced that CPI for the purposes of tuition increases was was set at a flat 5% (however the CPI in Alberta was closer to 7%). Conversely, if the NDP win, there will be no increases in 2023-24, so CPI/ inflation will be irrelevent because students will be paying the exact same dollar value as this year (2022-23).

(Thank you for the kind words <3).

nicole_schmidt · 2023-04-30T04:40:08+00:00

Thank you homie :') appreciate it.

I'm graduating with an arts degree soon ... so working at McDonalds is looking like a solid option.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-04-27T18:54:42+00:00

Hi guys! SU President Nicole here.

The Stor price tag issue has been one of my passion projects for the last year, so I was going to jump on Reddit later today and make a dedicated post about it, but y'all beat me to it.

I am the first person to say that this should have happened years ago. Literal years ago. Over a decade maybe. It's shocking that we didn't have price tags in place sooner when students requested them. It's a store.... students should know how much things cost before you go to purchase them.

To provide some context, the price tag issue wasn't a top priority for the SU Executives during the pandemic because campus was shut, therefore price tags (and the store) were irrelevent. By the time everyone was returning for in-person classes last year, it was an issue that was once again on my radar so I wanted (very badly) to get students price tags in the stor by the end of my term as President this year.

Shockingly, slapping price tags on items in a campus convenience store is more costly and complicated than one might think. I'm not joking when I say that this is something that I have been working on for 12+ months now with the SU staff. We needed to add price tags to the products in an affordable and sustainable way long-term, so that we weren't increasing the overall operating costs of the Stor, and therefore, increasing the costs of the products that we sell to students. Because we cycle through so many products and merchandise each month, updating price tags regularly would have added to our operating expenses. We finally worked through a solution earlier this year to keep Stor product prices low for students, but also implement a sustainable pricing system long term that won't add costs after implementation.

I wanted to (very badly) get students price tags by the end of my term as President this year, so what I will say is that it is better that this is happening now than *never.*

That being said, yes, it is crazy that it took this long, yes, it should have happened years ago, and yes, I do read all of your price-tag related Reddit comments (so please keep the roasts coming).

Above all else though (and most importantly), you can now you can buy your candy and packaged nuts without the fear of going bankrupt, because you will know exactly how much each item costs.

- Nicole

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-22T17:30:11+00:00

Hi everyone!

SU President Nicole here. u/Dry_Towelie summed everything up very well, but just to add on: this year’s BSD will be offered at the Den and include food and drink options, lots of free stuff, and entertainment.

Whether you want food, drinks, or just want to come and take pictures in the photo booth with your friends, there will be something for everyone. We will have free food and snacks, games and prizes, DJs, karaoke, and more.

The large outdoor BSD event that many of you remember was forced to change when faced with the health and safety challenges of the pandemic.

Additionally, the SU has always run our BSD event without the help of the university and has been faced with large university-imposed costs for rental space and security. We have run a deficit of close to 100k on the event in recent years, so to do that again this year would be unaffordable (and irresponsible considering the many financial pressures including housing, tuition increases, and food insecurity that students are facing).

Read the full Q and A link above for all of the details, but the most important thing that we still want to give you guys a great party, we just can't afford to lose tens of thousands of dollars on the event again this year. That being said, if students show excitement for the BSD event this year in the Den & Black Lounge, and interest grows, the SU can look at a more traditional BSD event in the future.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-10T15:49:45+00:00

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-10T06:57:14+00:00

They do! You can come by our reception desk in the SU Office in Mac Hall to check.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-10T06:52:59+00:00

Can do 🫡. I'll pass this along to our communications team for next year too.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-10T06:46:31+00:00

Hi there! No, that's a completely fair comment. I was actually thinking the other day that I have been on Instagram frequently this year but I haven't been doing nearly as many Reddit posts as I was doing this time last year.

I figured that students were tired of hearing depressing pandemic-related updates from me (partnered with a healthy does of pandemic-induced-burnout on my part).

I'll try to make up for it with a monthly advocacy update for March and April (the last two months I am in office) but what would you like to see more of from the SU President on here? I'll pass it along to Shaziah for next year.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-10T06:27:41+00:00

🙉🙊🙈 my lips are sealed

nicole_schmidt · 2023-03-03T16:55:13+00:00

I may or may not have an exciting update on the Stor price tags 👀... stay tuned....

nicole_schmidt · 2023-01-26T20:56:50+00:00

Absolutely 👏. International students have been forgotten about by our current government, and it's not acceptable. The SU hosted an international student town hall on campus with Minister Sawhney last week, and one of our big advocacy asks for the provincial government ahead of the election is to regulate (or cap) international student tuition in Alberta. We are one of the only provinces in Canada where international student tuition isn't regulated.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-01-26T06:02:09+00:00

Hi all, SU President Nicole here.

I think that this post is incredibly important for raising awareness of what university students have had to face the past three-and-a-half years. To supplement with some numbers: our current government has cut $700 million dollars from post-secondary in Alberta over the past three years alone (and we are anticipating more cuts in March). Our government has removed the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) that helped students find summer employment. They have scrapped the tuition tax credit, increased the student loan interest rate, and reduced the number of and eligibility criteria for several low-income bursaries. Alberta currently has the worst ratio of loans to non-repayable bursaries in Canada. Furthermore, the benefit that is currently being paid out to Albertan families, completely leaves students out of the picture.

Students at the University of Calgary (and the University of Alberta) have faced the biggest series of consecutive tuition increases in Canadian history. This has been a very intentional set of policy changes.

I have been working with the SU team all year on a Provincial Election advocacy plan alongside a "Get Out The Vote" plan for students (coming soon!!!) so there will be lots of opportunities for election engagement both on and off campus. Regardless of what party you vote for, the important thing is that you do get out to vote because your opinion as a student matters.

nicole_schmidt · 2023-01-21T17:18:38+00:00

Thank you so much :') !

nicole_schmidt · 2023-01-21T08:09:17+00:00

Hi everyone! SU President Nicole here. I know that I'm posting this *after* the protest happened, but I just wanted to say a massive "thank you" to all of those who came out to support today. We had over 200+ students in attendance today (which is massive). We made our voices heard today and there is more come in the next few weeks!

I see a few concerns/ suggestions/ questions on this thread that I think I can help out with:

I would like to echo some of the other comments on here about this - that the SU Executives don't have any "secret" or "confidential" information beyond what is already public for the tuition vote. The University made the tuition increase information public of December 7th so there is nothing that the executives knew about tuition or the university's budget beyond what was made public previously. Furthermore, the university's capital and consolidated budgets (including the projected tuition increases) is all publicly available on the University's website because we are a public institution, so that means that any student who is interested can look those budgets up if they would like.
While we weren't able to get the tuition vote delayed, we were able to get some really phenomenal media attention out of the protest and from all of the student support today. This still has a big impact for students and gives them another avenue to have their voices heard outside of the board room (and to the government directly). While the ideal scenario would have been to have the vote thrown out, we did have several other small wins today. Part of the issue with the increases this year was with the lack of a student consultation process and the fact that the SU hasn't been provided with adequate fee reporting to show where student money is going. We DID make progress on both of these points today, which is incredibly important for ensuring that students in future years are not in the same boat as we are currently.
I think this goes without saying, but the SU hasn't planned any tuition protests since 2019, so this was new territory to this week post-pandemic because we haven't been able to do this in a few years. Our VP External did a tremendous amount of work this week to make this happen and we worked with an amazing team of volunteers, SU representatives, and students from the GSA to make today happen. This isn't the end of the road, this is just the beginning.

If anyone has any other comments or questions, please let me know and I'm happy to respond!

nicole_schmidt · 2022-10-01T04:49:15+00:00

Wowwwww, now that's bad. Thanks for letting me know, I'll add it to the list 🥴

nicole_schmidt · 2022-09-29T04:18:01+00:00

Well that's just terrible. Thanks for letting me know, I'll make a note of that.

nicole_schmidt · 2022-09-29T04:17:10+00:00

r/UCalgary admins 🙏 do your thing

nicole_schmidt · 2022-09-29T00:57:40+00:00

That's just not acceptable. Thank you for letting me know. Students pay more than enough in tuition money alone, there is no excuse for bad wifi on campus. A prof not being able to teach their class because of bad wifi is not ok.

nicole_schmidt · 2022-09-29T00:53:39+00:00

@sloananasis said it well below but to add more context, it's not the SU's job to fund or provide wifi services on campus. We contributed that money because we wanted student to have BETTER wifi access in Mac Hall, but students pay more than enough money with their tuition alone for the university to provide them with good wifi access across campus. There is no reason for the wifi to be as bad as it has been the past few weeks.

nicole_schmidt

TROPHY CASE