Graduate students hope to get more benefits from the university when they renegotiate their contract this summer.

"We really look to build on what we've been able to achieve so far," Lloyd said. "It's important to bring these members up to a level of parity.

"One of the main things to look at is how the cost of living goes up for graduate students. In Spartan Village, when the rent goes up 10 percent every year, TAs' wages do not. They stay the same.

"We hope to change that."

This fall, Graduate Employees Union, or GEU, officers will negotiate the union's third contract with the human resources department at MSU.

The current contract, which expires May 15, 2008, already includes health, dental and vision benefits, which union members say they have worked to improve since the first contract was created in 2002.

The human resources department is responsible for forming the bargaining team that will represent the university in the upcoming contract negotiations, said Pamela Beemer, the department's assistant vicepresident.

"Throughout the bargaining process, both teams bring proposals and ideas to the table for consideration and both teams review and react to proposals brought forth by the other bargaining team," Beemer said.

"This commitment allows for the development of a bargaining environment where sensitive issues and a broad range of creative ideas and options can be openly explored and productively discussed. Bargaining processes can take days, weeks or months."

The GEU's top priority for the upcoming contract is increased wages, Lloyd said.

"We're trying to get MSU to spend the money they have more wisely, and we feel that doing this is a wise expenditure," Lloyd said.

"If TAs can't afford to get through school in a timely manner, that trickles all the way down to the youngest students on campus. They are closer to the students' ages, and they know exactly what students are going through."

GEU members now receive the Midwestern Dental Plan, which provides for two oral exams and a six-month checkup, but students say it only provides a 30 percent discount on larger procedures, such as prosthetics and root canals.

"It's great there are things such as free cleanings, but for major work, if you do have a problem, and all of a sudden you need to have bridge work done on your teeth, you might have to fork over more than $2,000, and that's not easy for many graduate students to do," said Sarah Hamblin, GEU vice president for contract negotiations and enforcement.

"We are going to improve that service, but at this moment, we don't know exactly what we will be fighting for."

GEU President Bill Hannah believes that continuing to increase benefits is an important step for the union, not only for current members, but also for future ones.

"It's important to get people involved now," Hannah said. "If you think back, those who negotiated changes in the past have graduated.

"It's not about members benefiting themselves, but to benefit those who come in later."