Rivcoll SRC

Hey guys,

Congrats to all our new students commencing in 2012, you have chosen the right Uni to come to, CSU is a great place to study!
O-week kicks off on the 20th of Feb, there’s going to be some great activities to participate in. We’ve got Brtish India and Sneaky Sound System playing at the Crow Bar, Nina Las Vegas will be pumping tunes for Trivia, and Pool Party is going to go off!
I have been working with the Division of Student Services to develop a new look orientation site for our first years. I filmed interviews of Professor Ross Chambers, Roslyn Brennan, as well as other CSU Academics, support staff and students to make videos to help with your transition into Uni from, school, TAFE, work etc. Please have a look, it’s interactive, it’s fun and it’s helpful!

http://www.csu.edu.au/orientation

To all our returning students, welcome back and I hope you have a great year.
We’ll see a few changes this year with the introduction of the Student Amenities Fee bringing better services to you as an Internal or Distance Ed student.
The new Vice Chancellor, Professor Andrew Vann has begun his leadership with CSU as of the 3rd of Jan. He is committed to growing our research strengths and further advancing online education and the Student Experience. I will have the pleasure of meeting Professor Vann in early Feburary to film his welcome message and introduce myself as the Student Senate President. Looking forward to it!
2012 will bring structure and stability to the Senate with the amendment of the Governance early this year. This means stronger SRCs, therefore better student representation to advocate for you guys as students at this institution.
Make sure you enjoy this year, join a club, get involved in the events we hold on Wednesday nights, join our board if you wish and don’t forget to study!

Peace,

Gash.

Hi All!

Just thought I would give everyone a run down on the Studente Amenities Fee. There is a lot of speculation and misunderstanding from a lot of Student Associations around and I feel that there is a need for CSU students to have a bit of a feel for whats actually going on.

I have not gone into great depth. The aim is just a basic need to know.

Rivcoll has been in some informal talks with CSU since the start of the year. I have been followong the Bill in the Senate for quite some time.

History

Rivcoll SRC was originally a union. A compulsory union fee was collected untill 2007. This fee was used to provide support for students (the bulk of it being on campus), the support was anything from owning and running eating outlets (the Nosh was owned by the union) to the funding of clubs and buying of sport gear.

In 2007 the Howard government brought in Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU). This meant that the fees were no longer paid… Who would spend money if they never had to?

The idea behind this move was that the Unions were getting a lot of money from people that were not using their services (DE students and off campus students). Another reason was that Unions (not Wagga to my knowledge) were using these funds to use on political activity or campains like climate change and others (other unions are very political and tend to be strongly Labor/Green orientated).

Since 2007 Rivcoll has been a Student Representative Committee. Our funds coming from a big fund that was made with the left over money and the selling off of our assets to CSU (all up about 7million). The interest from this fund is where we get our funding from.

There has been reviews into the University experience over the last few years. Not very good outcomes for Students Support or Student Life. There has been a great many services that have been lost or made not as accessable since VSU.

The Student Amenities Fee

Facts

-The fee is capped at $263 per student, per year and to be charged through HECS

-The fee is collected, held and administered by the University

-There is the need for the University to get input from the Student Association and the NUS with the provision of funds.

Questions

Is this good?

Yes, the services are in need of a flush of money but at the same time there is the issue of students paying for things that they may not need or want. The view of ‘Its on HECS- we don’t care’ is a very silly thing to say.

Will Rivcoll go back to being a Union?

No. We do not have posession of the money. There are also many advantages in remaining as an SRC.

What will Rivcoll be doing?

Rivcoll will be working with Student Senate to communicate with the University to sort out how much CSU is going to charge and to who. We will then be advising CSU of the areas that we think are in need.

Rivcoll is really going all out for next years Jaffies

They will be getting USB drives in their Oweek bags

2gb's worth of study-goodness with added awesomeness because it is from Rivcoll

Who wants to be a Jaffy again?

Hey all,

Just thought i’d let you all know that the Eco Active garden party went well. Quite a few people showed up and did a bit of planting and weeding. Gash, Tim, James, Stu and I all went along to give a hand, we also planted a fruit tree (Which we unofficially named the Rivcoll tree).

The garden is looking pretty good, but could always use more volunteers to go and do a bit of planting or cleaning up. But all in all it was an awesome day.

I have already started planning my next goal i want to tackle and will get back to you all with the details ASAP

Until then have fun, Jack.

Hello Wagga Students,

Rivcoll has been busy last couple of months seeing what we can do about the state of our on-campus gym. The gym needed a massive overhaul, the equipment was outdated and in some incidences, unsafe. As a board we felt this was no longer acceptable so we decided to buy a few bits and pieces! Cheers to Lee Mottee who manages the gym for agreeing to let us help out!

Here is a list of the equipment we bought! Look forward to seeing you all workout in the coming weeks!

Good Iron Pumping!

Dickie

Pro2 Prostyle Rubber Dumbbells Package, 2.5kg to 50kg (20 pairs)
Commercial Leg Press
500kg of Olympic weight
7 Gauge Commercial Olympic Heavy Duty Multi Power Rack
Commercial Exercise spin Bikes X 2

And to finish on this note; we are informed the Uni will now also dip into their pockets to buy additional equipment on top of our purchases…. Fingers crossed!

Great news for Inner Regional Students!

From the start of next year you will  be able to claim independance for youthallowance under the same scheme as outer regional, remote and very remote areas.

Where is inner regional?…. Wagga Wagga, Tamworth and Orange just to name a few

Current scheme for claiming independance in rural areas

The current Relocation Scholarship scheme is $4000 in the first year followed by $1000 for all of the following years. This will change next year to $4000 then two years of $2000 and then down to $1000 for following years. Keep in mind that the Relocation Scholarship is for dependant students and very few independant students can find any way to qualify.

Press release

Rivcoll Member Jack Barwick is very happy to be getting an extra $1000 next year

Hey all,

Don’t forget the opening of the eco active garden is this Saturday come by to have a look, lend a hand, have a sausage or just to look busy.

This is an awesome project, so come show your support. Things are set to kick off at 2pm with some environmentally friendly activities, followed by a free BBQ hosted by Rivcoll.

Hope to see you all there.

This week in the hungappa check out Skinny’s Mailbay, Epic Things Collated, The Fire Twirling Report and much more. Online Now

Catch up on the latest from your campus with Rivcoll Publications. Check out photos from mini final fling, the latest from the The Angry Kid Film reviewer, or some light reading from with Musings of a muso, in the Hungappa.

Or catch up on the latest in distance education with the Den. This month includes Self Motivation Tips, Book and Movie reviews & The Pirate Code of Conduct.