University administration have proposed an interim policy for graduate student researchers, which is still in discussion phases. Under the proposal, the university would only provide tuition free remissions for “externally sponsored programs that provide full Facilities and Administrative costs and support a graduate research assistant stipend for a minimum amount of $3,400 awarded competitively per semester,” as stated in a faculty senate document.
To be eligible for an award, graduate students would have to be registered for a minimum of 6 credit hours per semester. Limits apply to the award total as it corresponds to the number of semesters of tuition per award, according to the document.
To date, Wright State has supported graduate students through a policy that matches the stipend investment for a student supported through a faculty member by paying the tuition for those students, according to Doom. “Our research capability has grown substantially over the period of time [in which] that policy has been in place. It’s [now] reasonable for the institution to consider the total expense that the policy now brings to the university,” he said.
There was a 360 review of the research office, in which it was recommended that the university require tuition to be charged to research grants for GRAs, according to Walt Branson, vice president for finance and operations and chief business officer. “We felt like going there immediately might not be the best thing… so we proposed an interim policy where we would scale it back to where, based on the size of a grant, you would get so many tuition waivers allowable,” said Branson.
Additionally, there has also been a call for an overall review of graduate support. “We thought this would be a good interim policy while we do the overall review, which may take us in a different direction,” said Branson.
The university currently spends about $3 million in tuition waivers for graduate students on sponsored programs. The university is seeking to recoup $1.5 million – half of that amount – in order to spend that money on other budgetary priorities, according to Branson.
Faculty who support graduate students through externally-funded awards have expressed concerns over the proposal, according to the Faculty Senate document. “For many faculty, the tuition-remission cost-share is the primary enabler of their research productivity and represents an important condition of their employment. The university simply cannot afford the negative impact on morale and research production that the proposed policy will realize,” the document reads.
Due to their concerns with the initial proposal, the Faculty Senate has counter-proposed a different set of actions, according to Doom.
So far, some changes have been proposed and discussed for several years. Although there is no fixed date for the final decision, the goal would be to move forward reasonably quickly, according to Sudkamp.
