Notes from Council: 12 per cent increase to the UASU health and dental plan approved

“Notes from Council” is The Gateway’s ongoing series of recaps of noteworthy items from Students’ Council meetings.

At the April 8 meeting of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) Students’ Council, council approved a 12 per cent increase to the UASU health and dental plan for the 2025–26 academic year. Additionally, the results of the 2025 UASU Council and GFC elections were ratified.

Executive and BoG reports

In her executive report, UASU President Lisa Glock said that the Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Committee (ARRC) has created a list of recommendations for the UASU. Glock also discussed her trip to the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations‘ (CASA) annual general meeting in Winnipeg with Vice-president (external) Abdul Abbasi. They discussed CASA policy development, value proposition, and sustainable growth, Glock said.

The UASU is also preparing for the Expert Panel on Post-Secondary Institution Funding and Alberta’s Competitiveness. The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) has been invited and the UASU will be meeting with them to discuss their approach. They will also be collaborating with the Alberta Students’ Executive Council (ASEC), Glock said.

Abbasi mentioned the UASU’s efforts towards the national Get Out The Vote campaign. He said that the UASU will be putting up billboard campaign ads in LRT stations. Abbasi also mentioned the launch of the City of Edmonton’s Student Housing Survey.

Board of Governors (BoG) representative Adrien Lam discussed her work analyzing the data collected from her BoG survey. Lam has been presenting this data to BoG members. She said that she will continue to work with L’Association des Universitaires de la Faculté Saint-Jean (AUFSJ) to help them create a student parent space.

Vice-president (operations and finance) Levi Flaman reported that the UASU is beginning to see savings since signing its agreement with Kinetic Group Purchasing Organization (GPO).

“In many cases, the savings are on track to meet or exceed expectations,” Flaman said.

Board and Committee Reports

Business councillor and bylaw committee chair Owen Pasay outlined the committee’s progress throughout the year, highlighting that nine bills have been passed at the bylaw committee. He thanked his fellow committee members for their work.

Engineering councillor and council administration committee (CAC) chair Michael Chang presented the committee report. Highlights included adopting the Campus Food Bank (CFB) for a week in March, supporting the Community Early Learning Center, and developing the council survey.

Flaman, finance committee chair, expressed his appreciation for his fellow committee members. His report highlighted the committee’s work developing the operating and capital budget principles.

Nate Goetz, Augustana councillor and policy committee chair, highlighted policies created and amended throughout the year including the quality academics policy, the mental health and addictions policy, and freedom of expression policy.

Nathan Thiessen, arts councillor and audit committee chair, thanked his fellow committee members for their efforts to ensure “financial transparency and accountability on behalf of students.”

Angelina Botros, science councillor and social media sub-committee chair, highlighted the council candy cane initiative and the committee’s various sessions at Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ), North Campus, and Augustana.

Council approves a 12 per cent increase to the UASU health and dental plan

Council then moved to approve a 12 per cent increase to the UASU health and dental plan for the 2025-26 academic year. The health and dental plan committee decided on the 12 per cent increase based on the claims reports from the previous year, the change of coverage report, and insight from committee members, Vice-president (student life) Renson Alva said.

Thiessen spoke in support of the motion, saying that it “ensures that [the UASU’s] health and dental plan remains robust and resilient.”

Pasay emphasized that this increase may appear “dramatic” to students considering rising tuition costs. He asked if there is a plan to address potential student concerns. Alva said that there have been discussions about creating an informational campaign to address what this increase means for students and what their coverage includes.

“For the past nearly two years with us being almost locked into the consistent rates, the insurance company has actually been losing millions of dollars on this plan, while students have been benefiting and utilizing the plan more and more. In a way, this is kind of catching up,” Alva said.

“Without this increase, if we were to draw from reserves, I think within the next two years, we would run out of reserves and we would go into negatives,” Alva added.

The motion passed with 14 votes in favour and three abstentions.

Additionally, the motion to approve the second principles of Bill 5, UASU fee restructuring, passed with 14 votes in favor and two abstentions. The motion to approve the use of an eVote to ratify the appointment of the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) passed with 16 votes in favour and one abstention. The motion to approve the second principles of the marketing of uncontested races passed with 17 votes in favour.