Speaking Out	Print Issue
July 14, 2009, Volume 56, No. 01

Impact of Grad Tuition Reform

I write this letter in response to the Report of the Faculty Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy (SCSEP) (Almanac May 12, 2009). I refer in particular to their point #2 under the heading “Impact of Graduate Tuition Reform,” in which the committee raised the concern that tuition reform will have an adverse effect on graduate students in Arts and Sciences who win external fellowships, especially in years 4 and 5. Specifically, they raised the issue that such students “do not benefit from receiving the award as the new higher tuition rate uses up too much of the funds,” and that this will create a financial “disincentive” to applying for external awards.

I am pleased to allay these concerns for SAS graduate students. In keeping with past policies, the SAS graduate division will pay full tuition for students who win external fellowships if the external fellowship does not cover it. Moreover, students who win external fellowships may request from their graduate group deferral of the SAS fellowship that they would have received during the year in which they will be on the external fellowship, thereby effectively extending their fellowship by a full year. This policy had been followed prior to the tuition reform, but when SCSEP was collecting information about the effect of tuition reform on graduate students, it was still unclear what effect the new rates would have on the policy. I am now happily in a position to confirm that the SAS graduate division will continue supplementing tuition expenses of students on external fellowships, as needed and in accordance with the terms of their award.

—Ralph M. Rosen, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, SAS
Rose Family Endowed Term Professor, Department of Classical Studies