The University of Minnesota has the second-largest number of graduate and professional students in the United States at over 16,000. All registered graduate and professional students at UMN are members of GAPSA. It was established in 1990 as a nonprofit (IRS 501 (c)(3)) confederation of independent college councils representing all graduate and professional students at the University of Minnesota to the Board of Regents, the president of the University, the University Senate, UMN at large and the wider community. GAPSA serves as a resource for member councils, as the primary contact point for administrative units, as a graduate and professional student policy-making and policy-influencing body, and as a center of intercollegiate and intracollegiate interaction among students.