As announced at the Graduate Studies Forum last night, beginning with the Fall semester of 2001, English Graduate Instructors will teach a 2/1 load of composition, with service work in the lighter semester. English Graduate Teaching Assistants will have a 1/1 load, working with the full-time instructor of one large lecture course; this position requires a commitment for two semesters. Incoming students with an appointment receive a $7,500 stipend, with a raise to $9,000 after one year of graduate study. The rest of this document discusses the stipend issue in more detail.

As enrollment in the graduate program is part and parcel of these financial packages, and as that enrollment's tuition is not entirely covered by the concomitant tuition waiver, the stipend is lower than $9,000 for all practical purposes; however, Maurice Eftink, Dean of the Graduate School, has been working steadfastly to reduce the amount of tuition left to the graduate student's pocket.

Some recent confusion should be noted. Not too long ago, IHL (Institutes of Higher Learning, the state college board) caused UM to change the structure of tuition. At that time, tuition waivers covered 100% of the tuition a graduate must pay; however, there was an activity fee, which covered such items as the Turner Center and student entertainment. This activity fee was not included in the waiver and amounted to several hundred dollars per year.

IHL required UM to include that fee within the tuition, setting the 100% waiver back to approximately 77%. There was no real change in the amount that graduates paid. In one sense, the change was purely semantic (though the remainder now qualifies as a tax deduction under the Lifetime Education Credit).

It took some time for everyone to get used to the new terminology, and the term "full tuition waiver" outlived its accuracy. Students who came here during that switch were surprised at the expense, though some expense, which looked and smelled like a lot like tuition, had been the rule for semester upon semester before then. Someone just entering the program could not know this, however.

This confusion did occur and caused some to tighten their financial belts. The new student received a letter mentioning no tuition but an activity fee, but if she called to ask the bursar or registrar, the student would be told that there was no activity fee. Concluding that the tuition support was complete, a student could come to Oxford and find this charge waiting for him on top of the recent moving expenses.

Despite the trouble involved, this change in terminology will have practical benefits for students: not only is the former activity fee now tax deductible--the University cannot claim to offer a full tuition waiver when money must still be paid. The new, direct terminology provides a forceful, recruiting-based incentive, utterly lacking before, for UM to truly waive 100% of its enrollment fees, no matter what they're labeled.

As told above, Dr. Eftink has increased the percentage of the tuition "waived," that is, paid by the graduate school or department rather than the student (Eftink reminds us that the tuition fees aren't obviated: they're paid either by the student or interdepartmentally). He has pushed down the total due as far as he could each semester since taking on the administration of the Graduate School. What's left to the graduate's pocket, a few hundred dollars, still reduces the net stipend, but to a much lesser degree than before. With the more direct formula for fees, Eftink can leverage for a complete tuition waiver, and the mark is beginning to move.

Considering Dr. Eftink's efforts to raise the tuition waiver; the labor of our Department Chair, Joe Urgo, to reduce our work load; and the raises we've seen, it is fair to say that our lot as graduate teachers and students has improved. This necessarily improves every other thing in our lives, and most importantly gives us more time for research and publication, which is what we are here to do.

The EGSB appreciates and applauds the work of our representatives, the faculty committees, and Dr. Urgo for the work all have put into the program. We are committed to improving our graduate program, and we look to the future with optimism.

02 March 2001

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