GSA-UW 2018 Annual Report

Graduate Students,

This past year the GSA-UW continued its work to address challenges expressed by graduate students in the Vital Signs: Grad Life Survey. Some common issues that surfaced included a lack of funding transparency, issues with supervisor/student relationships, improving Teaching Assistant/Research Assistant policies, and a lack of opportunity for engagement in meaningful social activities. The GSA-UW is committed to improve the general state of physical and mental wellness of graduate students by focusing internally and working with UWaterloo leadership to address these and other issues impacting graduate student life.

The GSA-UW recognized that a new approach was needed. Based on the Carver Policy Model, the GSA-UW implemented an improved policy manual that lays out key priorities, and helps to focus collective efforts on activities that will strengthen the organization and its overall impact on graduate student life.

We’re already starting to see the new model come to life. As you’ll see in this report, it’s been an extremely exciting and productive year. With our new model motivating the organization over the coming years, we are confident that there are even more achievements just around the corner.

We thank the leadership of the Board and Council whose dedication, ingenuity and passion inspire us all. We also thank staff and our campus partners whose commitment is transforming our community by championing graduate students at Waterloo.

Sincerely,

The GSA-UW

Internal Activity Highlights

SLC/PAC update
2.0% increase to minimum fundig and TA rate
Restructured staffing and reduced executive officers from 6 - 2 positions
mental health and wellness initiatives
UW needles Hall one stop shop - update
changes to policy manual
Graduate House consultation
Board training and Council training
Waterloo International Travel Working Group
CEPT
UW Poicy 30 (Graduate Student Employment/ TA)
UW Policy 42 (Sexual Violence)
- Policy 42 was implemented for January 1, 2017 for gov't compliance. It was mandated to be immediately reviewed. The review process has been initiated.
UW Policy 33 (Ethical Behaviour)
- The GSA-UW continues to actively participate in the Policy #33 Review Committee. Policy 33 affects all members of the Waterloo community and relates to policies affecting students: Policy 70, Policy 71, and Policy 72. A survey to inform the on-going review was distributed in the beginning of this year (2018).
Needles Hall "One-stop-Shop"

External Activity Highlights

Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
After a long process of review the GSA Board and Council decided to exit CASA and focus its advocacy internally. The coming years will be used to develop an advocacy strategy that will consider all options for the best advocacy of UW graduate students.
Saves the GSA about $24K for the coming year.
Ontario Graduate Students' Alliance (OGSA)
GSA Board and Council voted to exit OGSA
OGSA Board decided to dissolve the organization.
GSA saves $11K for the coming year.

TOWN & GOWN
- The GSA is a member of this City of Waterloo and University of Waterloo committee. The Town & Gown committee is reviewing student housing in the community.

Social Activity Highlights

GSA-UW Welcome Week

- This year the GSA-UW implemented it’s first full-some Fall and Winter Welcome Week. Events were open to all graduate students and were held at both the Graduate House as well as outside of the Graduate House. Some of the events included: a dance party, a guided tour of uptown waterloo, free food events, free skating, a networking event and more!
University Wide Orientation
- In partnership with the Student Success Office we planned and implemented University Wide orientation for all incoming graduate students. Over 1100 incoming graduate students registered for Fall orientation. We provided them with essential information and welcomed them with various social events, prizes and more.
Canada's Wonderland
Halloween Scavanger Hunt
increased GSI to $20K

GSA Services

Graduate House
- The home away from home, the Grad House is the graduate student focused lounge. Featuring home cooked meals, local suppliers, craft breweries, and home-grown entertainment.
Legal Aid
- Legal aid is provided each term by the Graduate Student Association. Graduate students registered in the current academic term can consult privately with our lawyer.
  The legal aid service helped over 100 students and their families with issues in family law, business and contracts, landlord-tenant, and notary services.
Tax Aid
- GSA-UW offers Free consultations to help graduate students understand and learn to file their own income tax returns.
- A General Income Tax Filing Seminar was held in March.
- 72 private consultations were available free of charge to graduate students.

We want to help graduate students learn how to file their own tax returns.

Health and Dental Plan, (STUDENTCARE.CA)
- Highlights of the GSA/FEDS Health Plan
- The plan is underwritten on a refund/retention accounting basis with Sun Life. This means that the policyholder will pay for every claim that is made by our members. If claims are greater than the premiums paid, then the policyholder will have to pay Sun Life the shortfall.If claims are fewer than the premiums paid, then the policyholder will receive a refund from Sun Life.This model requires that an external ‘claims fluctuation reserve’ (CFR) is held with Sun Life and that an ‘unrestricted deposit account’ (UDA) exists for the policyholder where any surplus, if generated, will be held. For the year ending 2016 the CFR is fully funded and the GSA share of the UDA is approximately $19,000.
- Refund accounting is an exercise in budgeting, as all finances flow back to the policyholder (GSA/FEDS). Internal reserves are part of the financial mechanics of the refund accounting model.Our strategy is to carry plan reserves internally, to ensure the CFR is fully funded and to support shortfalls to claims, should they occur.
- For the year ending August 2016, Health claims have seen continuous growth over the past two policy years. Per student claims increased by 12% from the previous year. This may be accountable to the expansion of the Waterloo drugs list. Last year approximately 75 drugs were added to the formulary.
- Prescription Drug and Travel were the categories that had the largest impact on health claims. Travel claims continue to grow and surpass the half million dollar threshold. Waterloo is part of a “pooled” claims design (for Travel) that sets a ceiling on claims that will directly be attributable to the plan's claims history. That is, any claim under $25,000 will be paid by the plan holder, but any claim over $25,000 is pooled within a national group, and will not affect the plan.This is a good feature, as Waterloo experienced an out of country claim where $200,000 of the claim amount was pooled.
- The year ending 2016 experienced growth in plan enrolment, which allowed for our internal reserves to grow.
- In summary, the Waterloo Health Plan continues to operate in good financial health.
- GSA Dental Plan
- The dental plan is based on a “fully insured premium” model, due to the rather short history of the plan. This means that the underwriter, Sun Life, pays all claims. If there are more claims than premiums paid, Sun Life absorbs the shortfall. If there are fewer claims than premiums paid, Sun Life keeps the surplus. The premium is negotiated annually based on previous claims experience.
- Internal Reserves: The Health & Dental Fund
- The GSA is working on growing its internal reserve to $500,000 to guarantee its ability to pay claims. The total of the Health & Dental Fund as of August 2017 is approximately $380,000.
- Health & Dental Stats
- Eligibility to the plans:
- Full time and part time graduate students enrolled in regular "on campus" programs are eligible for coverage in the health and dental plans.
- Students enrolled in distance-ed (online) programs are not eligible for the plan nor eligible to opt into the plan. This was initiated by students enrolled in on-line programs that were billed for the GSA Administered Fees. They requested that the GSA lobby for their exclusion from the fees: (including Graduate House fee, Bus Pass, and university ancillary fees.)
- The GSA is working with plan parters to find a way to allow exceptions to the eligibility requirement of self enrolments in to the plans.

Health Plan Enrolment and Coverage Chart
Coverage	2016	2015
Fully covered	4210	4043
Health coverage only	60	53
Dental coverage only	5	8
No Coverage (Opted out)	289	419
Total eligible	4564	4529
Change of coverage: Opt Out rate	6.33%	9.24%
Family Enrolment - 1 dependent	114	111
Family enrolmnet - 2 or more dependents	62	66
Self Enrolment (during in-active terms)	21	22

GRT Bus Pass
- Your WatCard is your Upass.
- Show your pass to the operator.
  New: TAP your watcard for the GRT and ION LRT.
- Travel on GRT buses is unlimited with your UPass!
Student Advising and Support
- The GSA-UW helps graduate students facing academic challenges in a safe environment.
- The GSA-UW provided support with one:one private meetings, advising/consultation support over email and telephone, and group support for issues within a department or faculty.
- GSA-UW helps graduate students navigate through UW policies, guidelines, and processes.

Annual Audit Report

The GSA employed the services of MNP, LLP for its annual audit. The fiscal year ends on August 31st and an the Auditor's Report was received in February 2018.
Audited Financial Statement-Fiscal Year ending August 2017.

Independent Auditors’ Report

To the Members of Graduate Student Association-University of Waterloo:

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Graduate Student Association-University of Waterloo, which comprise the statement of financial position as at August 31, 2017, and the statements of operations, changes in net assets and cash flows for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations, and for such internal control as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditors' Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors’ judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.

Opinion

In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Graduate Student Association- University of Waterloo as at August 31, 2017 and the results of its operations, changes in net assets and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations.

MNP,LLP
Waterloo, Ontario Chartered Professional Accountants
February 27, 2018 Licensed Public Accountants

Summary statement of financial position as at August 2017