The Student Government Association unanimously approved a bill to fund a first-generation scholarship.

Bill 7-18-S allocated $1,200 to create the First-Generation Scholarship for full-time students whose parents do not have a bachelor’s degree and who have significant financial need.

Senator Dallas McKinney, one of the bill’s two co-authors, said he found the idea after reading about WKU student Olivia Parker who was attempting to start a first-generation scholarship for an endowment through the College Heights Foundation.

Parker co-authored the SGA bill, both she and McKinney are first-generation college students.

McKinney said he thinks there is a need for the scholarship.

“I just wanted to create this scholarship to help these students,” McKinney said referring to first-generation college students. “They could really use our money, and I think it would be a wise use of SGA’s money.”

The Senate Student Affairs Committee will determine how many recipients will receive the scholarship funding for the semester, according to the bill. SGA members and the co-authors of the bill will not be eligible for the scholarship.

The Senate also unanimously approved Bill 6-18-S, which proposed funding $150 to purchase food for the second meeting of the Committee of Diversity and Inclusion.

Bill 9-18-S, which proposed funding $50 for the 2018 Earth Day Festival hosted by the SGA Sustainability Committee, was also unanimously approved. The funds would be used to make posters to advertise the program, according to the bill.

Next week, the Senate will vote on two bills and two resolutions.

The first resolution, Resolution 2-18-S, proposes supporting student employment opportunities for part-time graduate students.

The second resolution, Resolution 3-18-S, proposes supporting the renegotiation of the Aramark contract in order to protect students from excessive fees.