Finance Subcommittee Report
The charge to the subcommitteewas toidentify problems, challenges, concerns that affect graduate education, including student debt, and to make recommendation for addressing these.The main question of concern to the subcommittee is whether, or how, students can get sufficient funding to get through their academic career, without incurring too much debt. It seems evident that that funding sources are not keeping pace with increased tuition fees.
Recommendations are listed in bold type, followed briefly by their rationale.
Accurate and current data on federal student loans and fellowship funding must be made available to the Graduate College. The College attempted to supply this information for the subcommittee, but found that the data it was able to obtain was incomplete and of doubtful value. Monitoring of these data is essential for the assessment of the financial problems faced by students, and of the effectiveness of measures to address them.
In the case of need-based funding,the cost of living for graduate students needs to be properly assessed. For example, does the assessment account for the fact that graduate students are, in most cases, independent financially from their parentsand often have dependents of their own?
The allocation of revenue from tuition funds need to be assessed on an annual basis to ensure that a fair share is received by the Graduate College for support of graduate education. The funding for support of graduate education made available to the Graduate College is derived partially from tuition funds. The Finance Subcommittee would be glad to know that graduate education receives its fair share of the revenue stream for financial aid, particularly in light of tuition increases. The subcommittee is told that this contribution has been successfully negotiated for the current academic year, and suggests that this needs to be reviewed annually.
Allocation of student support to Colleges by the Graduate College is primarily based on student enrollment, butif there is a formula it needs to be better explained and understood by faculty. Some seem to misunderstand this allocation process. For example, the Graduate College does not directly fund graduate assistantships, or set the pay scales for these. These decisions are made in the academic units, where best practices can be determined for each discipline.
Faculty members need to understand how Colleges and Departments allocate support that is under their control, and what are best practices. These will differ between disciplines, peer competition in recruitment being a common criterion.
Academic units need to be aware of, and aim to follow, best practices for offers of funding in their disciplines.Ph.D students often get a “full ride”, at the level of a 50% Graduate Assistantship, but not always. Masters students do not, as a rule get a “full ride”.
The finance subcommittee suggests that the decoupling of tuition support from ERE should be considered, because the latter is a fixed percentage of earnings, but tuition is not.ERE increases are affecting the number of students supported by grants. The subcommittee is concerned with the downstream effects of this, while acknowledging that this issue is one for the V.P. Research Office, primarily.
The revenue from out-of-state tuition needs to be monitored, and a proper rationale for the determination of fees for in-state and out-of-state graduate tuition needs to be articulated. The Subcommittee asks if the revenue from out-of-state tuition is significant, and whether the level of these fees is appropriately determined for graduate education, given that graduate tuition fees may be a lower-priority concern when fees are set.Graduate students areindependent financially and that their choices in graduate education are not primarily based on the resident State of their parents.
A mechanism is needed for the Graduate College to waive tuition fees for students in receipt of training grants, endowment funding or substantial external fellowships. Endowment funding that is used for graduate education cannot stretch to cover increased tuition fees. This is also an issue for those with external fellowships (for example from NIH).A match between student tuition reduction and Foundation management fees is suggested as a possible method, in the case of endowment funding.
GPSC should have authority to determine which fees are mandatory for Graduate students.Mandatory fees for optional activities, such as the Student RecreationCenter subscriptions, are an unfair burden to many graduate students. GPSC has expressed concern about its representation in determining these. In particular, many ask why they should pay for amenities they are not using.
Werecommend that appointment of a development officer for GIDPs be explored.There may be more that Graduate College and academic units can do to expand funding sources for students from various Foundations. GIDPs are a special case, and should be able to share a development office.
Graduate Council should not approve new degree programs that are underfunded, thus needing a Program Fee.Some academic programs require special Program Fees, placing a substantial additional burden of students. It appears that the rationale for approval of these is not always systematically explained. We suggest that an explanation of the rationale for the approval of Program Fees is required, and should be applied to existing as well as new programs.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Finance Subcommittee,
John Williams, Chair