Proposal for Varying Stipend Rates by Assistantship Type

Background

Cornell’s policy in recent decades has been to establish a single (minimum) academic-year (9-month) assistantship stipend rate across all fields and disciplines for all assistantships and doctoral fellowships. We propose to create two Trustee-mandated minimum rates – one rate for GRAs and RAs and a different rate for other stipends (TAs, GAs, fellowships). Because these are mandated minimum rates, PIs, departments, colleges, and other units would be able to pay at a rate higher than these Trustee-mandated minima for any assistantship type, as per University policy.

In the most recent National Research Council Report on Research Doctorate Programs, 61 Cornell research doctorate programs were ranked—more than any other private institution. Because of our breadth of graduate programs, we compete with a variety of institutions, ranging from the Ivy+ group[1] and other private schools to flagship state schools. The appropriate peer group for each of our graduate fields varies by discipline; many of the Life Science fields report that their competitors for graduate students are within the flagship state schools which generally have relatively lower assistantship stipend rates than does Cornell, whereas the Arts & Humanities fields perceive the Ivy+ group (which generally has similar or slightly higher stipend rates than Cornell) as their competition for the best graduate students. Social Sciences fields and fields in Physical Sciences and Engineering distribute into both peer groups depending on field.

In recent decades, the Graduate School has attempted to benchmark stipend rate increases against the Ivy+ peers, which are at the high end of this spectrum of stipend rates. However, there is increasing stratification in stipend rates both within the Ivy+ group and between the Ivy+ and flagship state schools. Within the Ivy+ group, 2012-13 stipend rates ranged from $17,500 for a 9-month TAship (but this was an outlier) to $26,375 for a 9-month GRAship. While we have more limited access to data for other schools (e.g., state flagships), a review of public information on websites for a select group[2] shows a range between $13,333 and $18,234 for a 2012-13 academic-year assistantship.

For 2012-13, all Cornell graduate assistants (GAs, GRAs, RAs, and TAs, as well as Fellowship awardees) received at least the Board-mandated minimum academic-year stipend of $22,900 or $2544 per month.[3] With annual increases typically benchmarked to the Ivy+ increases, Cornell rates have held at about the Ivy+ median, although the five-year average increase of 2.7% has fallen short of the IVY+ overall (3.9% for RAs and 3.3% for TAs) as shown in Appendix A. Appendix B shows a sample of non-Ivy+ stipend rates.

Of the 2947 doctoral students at Cornell in Fall ’11, 962 were supported as TAs/GAs and 1135 were supported as GRAs/RAs. Increasing competition for federal grants and caps on NIH training grant stipends has led Principal Investigators to feel acutely the growth in stipend rates, spurring questions about appropriate rates for GRA stipends. This question arises particularly in light of lower stipend rates at the flagship state schools that some of these graduate fields perceive as their main competition for recruiting students. At the same time, the 3.3% five-year average increase in the Ivy+ TA rate has put pressure on Arts & Humanities fields to match those rates in order to maintain competitive position. Social Science fields feel some pressure regarding high costs of stipends, but not, apparently, to the same extent as the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, perhaps reflecting the range of fields represented in that discipline.

The cost of stipends may contribute to the number of students supported on GRAs, which has declined recently:

Doctoral Primary Support by Discipline: GRA Analysis / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012
Life Sciences / 360 / 371 / 371 / 355 / 359 / 325 / 353 / 356 / 346 / 340 / 296
Humanities / 1 / 0 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 10 / 10 / 1 / 1 / 0
Physical Sciences / 558 / 565 / 586 / 606 / 575 / 587 / 691 / 664 / 613 / 650 / 560
Social Sciences / 40 / 23 / 37 / 23 / 25 / 58 / 73 / 92 / 84 / 76 / 68
Total / 959 / 959 / 995 / 987 / 960 / 971 / 1,127 / 1,122 / 1,044 / 1,067 / 924

(Changes in Total: 13% drop 2011-2012; 18% drop 2008-2012)

The Academic Deans (college/school deans) have endorsed establishment of different stipend rates by assistantship/fellowship type.

Means for Implementation

Establish different minima based on assistantship type with the option of Principal Investigator (or graduate field or department or college) supplementation to provide funding above the minima.

  • TAs and GAs and Graduate School/University Fellowships: Establish a single Board-mandated minimum rate for these types of appointments across the university, guided by the median of the Ivy+ peer group. Maintaining the median of the Ivy+ TA/Fellowship rate is important for recruitment of this population, given the competition.
  • GRAs and RAs: Establish a Board-mandated minimum informed by comparison with state flagship peer schools (but generally set above these comparative levels) with Principal Investigators (or graduate fields or departments) having the option of paying a higher stipend based on availability of funds.
  • External Fellowships: Supplement external awards that provide at least 50% of the 9-month stipend and annual health insurance and that are typically available to students in multiple colleges to the nine-month TA rate.

Two options for implementation include:

1) Freeze stipend rates of current RAs and GRAs at the 2013-14 rate ($23,470 for 9 months) and admit new students on GRAs at a to-be-determined lower stipend rate. This approach honors the funding offers made in admission letters to current students while introducing an immediate cost savings for PIs. It also creates significant inequity among students who could be working side-by-side in a lab. TA and GA rates would continue to grow during this time to maintain the median of the Ivy+ peer group.

2) Hold GRA/RA stipends at the 2013-14 level for all students (continuing and new), for several years and then reassess the rate in relation to appropriate peers and in relation to impacts on graduate student admissions and academic outcomes. TA, GA, and Fellowship rates would continue to grow during this time to maintain the median of the Ivy+ peer group.

We recommend option 2 for implementation, to avoid within-group equity concerns, recognizing this approach will take considerable time to achieve the funding relief faculty seek.

Assessment

We recommend analyzing 2016-17 data to assess the following:

1) What percentage of doctoral students in each discipline are being paid more than the minimum established stipend for each funding type, and what is the range of support for those being paid above the minimum?

2) Are yields for programs changing significantly compared to the three-year period of 2011-12 through 2013-14 and, if so, do those changes correlate to changes in stipend rates? How does the quality of matriculating students for 2014-15 through 2016-17 compare to quality of 2011-12 through 2013-14 matriculates based on standard factors such as GRE and TOEFL?

3) What do the data from the Graduate School new student survey and admitted-not-attending surveys suggest regarding the possible impact of stipend rate on students’ decisions to attend Cornell? On these surveys, do data suggest students are reporting a different group of schools to which they applied? Has student rating of Cornell changed?

4) What do the data from the Graduate School Doctoral Experience and Exit surveys suggest regarding the possible impact of stipend rates on students’ experiences at Cornell?

5) Is there evidence that the minima, combined with the option of paying a higher stipend based on available resources, has increased competition among faculty for students and disadvantaged those with smaller grants? (To a certain extent this exists already in that faculty without grants must offer TAs—if available from the department—which makes their offers potentially less appealing than those of faculty who can offer GRA funds.)

If assessment suggests reduced yield or quality, return to prior practice should be explored.

Appendix B

Publicly Reported Stipend Rates for State Flagships and Selected Private Schools

Saved as “Stipend Rate Proposal for Varying Stipend Rates by Assistantship Type and Discipline”

1

[1] Berkeley, Brown, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale

[2] University of California, Davis; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Wisconsin, Madison.

[3] The maximum academic-year stipend amount that a graduate student may receive when any portion of the stipend comes from Cornell funds is $39,656. The increase may be from the same funding source as the basic stipend (an "adjustment") or from a different source (a "supplement"). The limit applies to support from any combination of fellowships or assistantships when part of the stipend is paid by Cornell; this includes awards from external sources that are supplemented by Cornell funds. When a department awards summer stipends and fellowships from its own resources, there is no restriction on the amounts.