Graduate school is rough. I doubt very much that anyone would tell you otherwise. Graduate students have to balance classes, research, assistant type work within their department, and possibly an outside part-time job as well. While the graduate student experience is always difficult, there is one important factor that makes it exponentially more difficult and that is the issue I will tackle with today’s decree.
All arts and sciences graduate school students must be fully funded within their department for at least five years.
Fully funded means that the tuition expenses of each graduate student is covered by the department, on top of which each graduate student receives a stipend that is enough to cover a reasonable expectation of room and board for the area. Some kind of health insurance needs to be included as well. Please note that I said “arts and sciences graduate students.” This decree does not apply to professional schools. Essentially, if when you tell someone what you’re studying you hear, “What are you going to do with that?” then this decree applies to you.
The downside of this decree is that departments will be forced to accept less graduate students into their programs. Considering the lack of jobs in academia right now, I’m not sure that’s a complete downside. You can find something else to do now, or in seven years after adding “Ph.D.” to your name. It’s up to you.
The upsides to this decree are numerous. First, I think it is just cruel to charge a graduate student tuition. Granted the University is providing an education for these people but they are generally so relied upon within their respective departments as teaching assistants and/or research assistants that they should also be considered employees.
Second, funding a graduate student takes away some of the monetary pressure they are under so they can concentrate on their classes and research. Fully funded graduate students finish their degrees faster. I don’t have a source on that so you will just have to believe me.
Third, fully funded graduate students don’t have to compete for positions. When graduate students are not funded they have to compete with each other for whatever funding is available, typically teaching assistantships. Since departments have to pay for each teaching assistant they typically do all they can to limit the number that they need. This means that the teaching assistants are then overloaded with work. If everyone is fully funded to begin with, the department can appoint as many teaching assistants as needed without affecting the budget. Graduate students will benefit from the extra positions because they need the work experience and the department will benefit because all of their undergraduate classes will have the support that they need. It’s win-win.
Finally, when graduate students are less overloaded, they have more time to assist in departmental research and aid in the securing of research grants. Research grants are what academia is all about so the more time graduate students can dedicate to obtaining grants, the better off the University will be in the long run.
The fact that no one has previously stepped in to help this underserved group is despicable. As Queen, I fully understand the importance of treating my underlings well. It’s time that academia learned the same lesson.
As always I remain your all-powerful and benevolent Queen of the World,
Marisa
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