Endowments proposed for students

According to President Nate Strong, if the two proposals for endowments seen by Senate on Monday, pass, ASSP will change."I think that we here will have the opportunity to have a huge change in the way that we as ASSP operate, and I think in a good way," Strong said. "We come up with a sustainable way to lower student fees and increase student scholarship at the same time."According to Seattle Pacific’s endowment webpage, "SPU’s endowment consists of donations and institutional funds set aside for permanent investment in order to produce a dependable stream of annual operating income for the university."Strong, Executive Vice President Tim Seemuth, knife to BBC's management structure  Vice President of Finance Jacob Redding and Vice President of Ministries Audrey Riddle authored the proposals.Both proposals would take money from the ASSP Rollover Contingency Fund, which currently sits at more than $400,000, and invest it in two separate endowments.Typically, the ASSP Rollover Contingency Fund is set aside for "one-time purchases of over $500 that are long term oriented" or "unforeseen and emergency costs," according to the ASSP Finance Board Guidelines.
One endowment proposed, called the ASSP Scholarship Endowment, would take $100,000 from the ASSP Rollover Contingency Fund and move it to the Student Financial Services Tuition Assistant Fund.The Student Financial Services Tuition Assistant Fund would then invest the endowment and receive yearly interest. Every year, 5 percent of the endowment would go toward student scholarships, and the endowment plus the remaining return would be re-invested.If approved, the use of the Rollover Contingency Fund for the purpose of this endowment would be an exception with the intention that the proposals "shall not be cited for future actions of the Contingency Fund," according to the proposal.The other endowment proposed, called the ASSP Operational Endowment, would take $150,000 from the Rollover Contingency Fund and invest it for the purpose of decreasing ASSP student fees."The operational endowment is something that will be attached to student fees… It will really off set that number to 240," Redding said in referance to the yearly ASSP student fee. "All it can do is give back to students."