Over the past two weeks there has been a large amount of confusion regarding the changes to the graduate tuition structure. The purpose of this article is to clarify some of these changes. These changes are complex, and this article will not address everyone’s questions. However, hopefully it will shed enough light that students will know what questions they need to ask.
• Graduate tuition will be the same as undergraduate tuition. So whatever undergraduates pay to be full-time students, so will graduate students. As of now, we are the only school in our basket that does not have graduate tuition priced at the same amount as undergraduate tuition.
• The Institute is planning to fund all students that come in for their first two years, with either a teaching assistant position, or an Institute reasearch assistant position. I was informed in no uncertain terms that one of the main goals of these changes is to ensure that students have the guarantee when they come to RPI that their tuition will be covered and a stipend will be available to them.
• During those first two years, students are expected to find an academic advisor. After those first two years, the faculty advisor is expected to fund the tuition and stipend of the student with funds acquired from research grants. Yes, this is a push to get faculty to do more research and apply for more funds.
• During the third year, while students are transitioning to be covered by a faculty grant, the Institute will cost share 50/50 with the faculty to cover the student’s tuition and stipend.
• In order for a graduate student to be considered full time, the student must be taking 9-15 credit hours. While this part is still under consideration, full time is probably going to be nine credits if the student is a TA, and 12 credits otherwise.
• The Institute will be covering all full-time students, and only full-time students. So, if a student is full-time they are covered. And if the Institute is supporting a student, the student is expected to be taking a full credit load.
• Part-time students will be paying by the credit, at a premium rate. The Institute will not fund part-time students. Those students who are part-time now, will be grandfathered at current rates (which are approximately $700) for a time period to be determined.
• The Degree Completion Mode as a status will be eliminated. Any student that is at RPI working on a dissertation or thesis will be considered full-time, with the exception of students who will be doing fieldwork elsewhere. Their status is also as yet to be finalized.
• Students who are currently in Degree Comple-tion Mode will have one year to finish up.
• There are new guidelines regarding students who are TAs. They will not be the primary instructors for courses they are teaching. They will be working no more than 20 hours a week, and they must be taking 9 credit hours.
• There will be set time limits on how long it may take a graduate student to achieve a degree. Seven years for a doctorate, 2.5 years for a masters, and five years for a doctorate for a student that comes in with a masters in the field of study.
• Grant applications going out in the future must include requests for funds to cover graduate students that will be involved in the project.
• There is a transition plan in the works. The administration is committed that no students who are currently enrolled will be left out to dry during this changeover period. There will be some amount of grandfathering and case-by-case situations will be reviewed.
• Students who have been promised a position and tuition next year will still be receiving those, in some cases with improved pay.
• The school of architecture is exempt from a number of these new parameters, and they will be handling their own affairs.
There are many things that are unclear at the time this article is being written. There are also a lot of details that I am keeping out for the sake of clarity. There are a few more things that are worth mentioning.
The impetus behind these changes is to alleviate graduate students’ situations. The purpose is to get students to a point where they finish their degrees in a reasonable amount of time, and that they will hopefully not be living in poverty while they are in school. There are very good intentions behind these changes, and for many people this will mean an improvement.
However, there are a few criticisms worth mentioning. The first is that the approach to designing these changes was taken without consultation of the people who would have much advice to offer, namely, graduate students and their faculty. Also this plan assumes that what will work for one department will work for all departments. As a member of the Science and Technology Studies department I can attest that my department has very different needs and parameters than does the department of computer science, for example. I also have serious issues with the new rule that places a time limit on how long a doctorate student has to complete a degree. Different fields of study, different people, and different projects have very different time needs. I am afraid that this may result in premature degrees for people who do not develop academically as much as they should, or want.
Regardless it is important to note that this plan is one that is intended to aid graduate students, not hinder them. Given some of the fairly vehement responses to the news of this plan I want to reiterate that overall, the goal is to legitimize the role of graduate students at RPI. And in closing, I would like to thank Dean Apple, Provost Peterson and President Jackson for taking time to explain to the graduate council what these plans are.
