The 49th ASWSU Senate was sworn into office Wednesday night and approved stipends for next year’s executive positions.

Next year’s ASWSU President Quinton Berkompas said the semester stipends have been placed close to minimum wage to match their hours. The stipends are distributed biweekly. 

The chief of staff and finance would be expected to work about 20 hours a week and receive $3,800, he said.

Berkompas said the director of communications, the director of legislative affairs and the director of university affairs are forecasted to work 15 hours a week and receive $2,800.

The director of student health, the director of student safety, the director of community affairs and the director of diversity, inclusion and veteran affairs would work about 12 hours and receive $2,200, he said.

Berkompas said both positions of deputy directors of legislative affairs, both deputy directors of communication, deputy director of student affairs and the deputy director of academic affairs will each work about nine hours a week and receive $1,600.

The executive assistant would work about six hours a week and receive a $1,000 stipend, he said.

The pay for directors vary on if they have deputies working under them.

Berkompas said the previous semester they had forecasted executives had worked about 208 hours, but the expected cumulative hours worked by the executive staff for the upcoming semester would be about 173 a week.

Berkompas said they asked the Service and Activities Fees Committee for about $270,000 for the ASWSU budget for the upcoming year. They approved about $260,000.

He said they originally requested their budget expecting to use $70,000 for the executive staff salary.

“So basically we’re in a position where we have to find $10,000 to cut in our projected budget,” Berkompas said.

Berkompas said the stipend budget for the upcoming year will be a little under $63,000. The ASWSU Senate approved the amount.

The approved budget will cut about $7,000 of the forecasted budget, which will get the executive staff closer to having enough money to operate for the year, he said.

The Senate will still need to budget for $3,000. Berkompas said they could do this by cutting some funding in certain areas.