Graduate Students' Association
The WLUGSA values the importance of creating a high quality student
experience that supports the academic mission. We believe that graduate
and professional students are a unique, diverse, and valuable
population within the WLU community, and that our collective voice
effects positive change within that community.
The Wilfrid Laurier University Graduate Students’ Association (WLUGSA)
provides many essential and helpful services to graduate students such
as:
• Laurier business cards
• International Student Identity Cards (ISIC)
• Advocacy & appeals assistance
• Awards, bursaries, conference funding, events funding, and emergency funding
• Textbook delivery for part-time students
• The Grad Lounge
• U-Pass (bus pass) agreement with Grand River Transit
- Health and Dental Plan
- Bus Pass
- Representation
- Board of Directors
- Graduate Student Community
- The Grad Lounge
- Orientation Activities
A growing number of important services aren’t covered by provincial health care. To help students pay for the health and dental services that they need, the GSA offers a collective plan. For those students who have health and dental insurance already, the plan can be combined with existing coverage, or students may choose to permanently opt out of one or both types of coverage in August or September. Spouses and dependents can also be added to the plan. Information about the plan and the change-of-coverage period will be available at www.wlugsa.ca, and will be included with the tuition invoice.
All full-time graduate students can use Grand River Transit (GRT) by showing their OneCard when they get on the bus. Grand River Transit services Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge, including an express bus that stops at Laurier and in downtown Kitchener near the Social Work campus.
The WLUGSA ensures representation on university committees and to university administrators, and facilitates regular communication of pertinent information between graduate students and university committees, administrators, and other organizations on campus.
The WLUGSA Board of Directors is made up of representatives from all graduate departments and interdisciplinary programs, as well as part-time and first-year representatives. The Board meets once per month in the Fall and Winter terms, and is the highest decision-making body of the WLUGSA. Students interested in sitting on the Board of Directors for the upcoming academic year are invited to email the Board Chair.
One of the most valuable ways the Graduate Students' Association contributes to the graduate student experience is through fostering a sense of community, both within and across disciplines. We provide a common space (the Grad Lounge) and numerous opportunities for socializing and networking with other graduate and professional students. We also collaborate with other teaching and professional development support units in offering professional development and academic-oriented events.
The WLUGSA operates the Grad Lounge, the main social hub, study space, and meeting room for graduate students at Laurier. The Lounge hosts GSA events and grad pub nights, and is available for bookings of all kinds, as well as providing a quiet space to study or eat at any time of the day.
The WLUGSA, with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Educational Development, the Career Centre and the Dean of Students, hosts a full slate of orientation events for incoming graduate and professional students, with speakers and valuable information on everything from financial aid and the health plan to student life and how to succeed as a graduate student. Information on the Orientation activities and registration for the event will be posted on the GSA website in the summer.
