Recommendations Approved by the Council of Deans - July 2009
Recommendation 1 – Discussion. Most of the people who spoke at the meetings agreed that a 33% minimum for an assistantship appointment is preferable to the current 25% minimum appointment. There was some concern in a few units about how this increase would be funded, and whether it would lead to being able to support fewer students with assistantships in doctoral program. But it seemed to be generally believed that it would ultimately strengthen, not weaken, our doctoral programs if the minimum appointment was raised from 25% to 33%.
The chief resistance to this change came from spokespersons for master’s degree programs, including many performance based programs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The argument is that students enrolled in these programs will be enrolled for a relatively short amount of time (not longer than 3 years for an MFA; often 1 ½ to 2 years in other master’s programs), and kept exceptionally busy during that managing the requirements of the graduate program. These programs were fearful that students would not be able to meet successfully the stringent and fixed, time-bound requirements program requirements if their assistantship commitments were increased.
It also became clear that moving from a 25% to a 33% minimum would bring the policy change conversation into the arena of wages, hours, and working conditions, which could make it necessary to attempt ratification of this change through the labor/management negotiations responsible for the GEO contract. Moreover, this proposed change would require coordination with the other University of Illinois campuses since this policy is controlled by the Board of Trustees, and would ultimately require approval by the Board of Trustees.
1.a. As a result of the findings of these meetings, 1.a. was withdrawn from consideration as a recommendation.
1.b. When 1.a. was dropped, the original tie of 1.b to 1.a. no longer made the same kind of sense. But it was widely agreed that the current minimum to generate a waiver for a fellowship, which has not been changed for many years, is far too low. It was agreed that it should be increased beginning in fall 2010, and that the minimum should then be re-evaluated regularly and systematically.
1.c. This recommendation was linked to the tie between the original 1.a and 1.b. Because 1.b has been withdrawn, 1.c. has been dropped from consideration. We believe, however, that the combination of a 25% assistantship with fellowship support to bring the total stipend to at least the level of a 33% assistantship appointment represents a good practice.
Revised Recommendation 1.
1.a. We recommend making no change in the minimum waiver-eligible percentage for assistantships. We also recommend that the Provost and the Dean of the Graduate College write to department heads, directors of graduate studies, and principal investigators to emphasize the campus preference for waiver-generating appointments of no less than 33% for students in doctoral programs and master’s programs with a research focus that lead to a doctorate. 25% assistantship appointments combined with supplementary fellowship income that produces a total stipend at least equal to a 33% assistantship appointment is acceptable. Otherwise, 25% assistantship appointments should ordinarily be used only for MFA programs and master’s level programs that are not intended to lead on to a research doctorate.
1.b. We recommend that the fellowship waiver policy be revised effective fall 2010. Fellowships of $3,000 per term will generate tuition and fee waivers through the summer term of 2010. For the academic year beginning Fall, 2010, the minimum level for a waiver-generating fellowship will be $5,000 per term. By November of each year thereafter, the Dean of the Graduate College, with advice from the Graduate College Fellowship Board and the approval of the Provost, will determine the minimum fellowship level for the following academic year. The Graduate College Executive Committee is the proper body to implement this change. Implementation date: fall semester 2010.
Recommendation 2 -- Discussion. There was considerable support for the recommendation that deans should be encouraged and empowered to set limits on tuition-waiver generating appointments in units that report to them.
Revised Recommendation 2.
We recommend that the Provost and the Dean of the Graduate College together write a policy and practice memorandum to deans emphasizing their responsibility to oversee graduate programs and urging them to work with department leadership and with the Graduate College to insure that graduate programs are sized appropriately for their mission and quality. Setting limits on the number of waiver-generating appointments available to graduate programs provides a mechanism for controlling enrollments in these programs. We recommend that this memo be sent out annually. If the Provost and Dean of the Graduate College accept this recommendation, the first such memorandum will be sent in time to shape admissions practices for fall 2010.
Recommendation 3 – Discussion
There was considerable support for the effort to collect more tuition or cost of education revenues from externally supported fellowships. There was also support for a mechanism by which the Graduate College could approve exceptions for funding agencies that by policy do not pay toward a student’s tuition expenses (e.g., the Mellon Foundation), but which bring both prestige and excellent graduate students to the program.
There was a good deal of concern expressed that charging tuition or cost of education against fellowships funded by endowments would greatly compromise our capacity to grow advancement funding dedicated to graduate fellowships. There was also concern, however, that exempting fellowship endowments entirely from tuition obligations would fail to recognize the real cost of delivering graduate education and thus be in consistent with the rest of these recommendations. The Working Group concluded that newly endowed fellowships (effective fall 2010) should cover student benefits that are not waived by policy but must be paid (health insurance and McKinley health service), but not be assessed a Cost of Education payment.
Revised Recommendation 3.
We recommend that the fellowship waiver policy be amended to facilitate collection of COE or tuition from fellowship-funding agencies. Exceptions can be made for prestigious fellowships that by their own policies do not provide tuition support (e.g., Mellon Fellowships or Sandia National Laboratory Fellowships). These exceptions will require approval by the Dean of the Graduate College. Endowment based fellowships established later than fall 2010 will be expected to cover the cost of paid benefits (health insurance, McKinley health service fee). The Graduate College Executive Committee is the proper body to implement this change. Recommended implementation date: fall semester 2010.
Recommendation 4 – Discussion
The recommendation to extend tuition remission charges to assistantships supported by current use private gifts, private grants, and private contracts received considerable support. Although there is some faculty opposition to this recommendation, it is believed that its implementation will make our graduate tuition waiver practices more consistent with those of our peers, will make our internal practices more consistent across the range of waivers we offer, and will help to put needed resources into circulation to help cover the considerable costs of providing graduate education.
Revised Recommendation 4.
We recommend that tuition remission practices that now routinely are applied to assistantships on federally funded grants be extended to include assistantships funded by current use private gifts, private grants, and private contracts. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research is the proper body to implement this change. We recommend an implementation date of fall semester 2010.
Recommendation 5 – Discussion
In order to address recommendation #5 effectively, it is necessary to separate the assistantship waiver policy (Board of Trustees controlled; covered by labor laws) and the fellowship waiver policy (set by Graduate College).
Assistantships: after many discussions, it was determined that a better path than the one stated in recommendation #5 – that is, to create a category of graduate programs exempted from the assistantship tuition waiver policy – is to work within the policy to clarify the status of existing categories designed to accomplish the same purpose. We have two designations that are aimed to protect the tuition revenues of graduate programs designed to rely extensively on tuition collected.
“Cost recovery programs” are programs that are allocated no state funds and must generate all costs through tuition and fees. These programs typically have one tuition rate for both in-state and out-of-state students, and must be approved as cost recovery programs by the Board of Trustees. Cost recovery programs are exempt from all Board of Trustees tuition and fee waiver programs, including assistantship, fellowship, and employee waivers, but must honor statutory waivers. Cost recovery program enrollments and credit hours are reported separately to the Illinois Board of Higher Education and excluded from all analyses of instructional costs. Examples of cost recovery programs are the Executive MBA and the M.S. in Finance.
“Self-Supporting programs” are programs which:
- are aimed at a non-traditional audience (off-campus or on-line)
- receive no direct state subsidy (general revenue funds)
- depend on a special BOT approved tuition rate to cover additional costs of developing and offering the program
- and/or bring an explicitly professional orientation to a traditional area of graduate study
These programs are exempt from some Board of Trustees tuition and fee waiver programs, including cooperative teacher and employee waivers, but must award assistantship and fellowship waivers to those students with eligible appointments. All such programs will be designated as tuition waiver reimbursable programs to allow the programs to recover any tuition amounts waived due to assistantships granted by other university units. Examples of self-supporting programs are the Ed.M. in Human Resource Education (online), the Ed.M. in Educational Organization and Leadership (off-campus), or Professional Science Masters concentrations.
Fellowships: there was considerable support to amend the fellowship tuition waiver policy to exempt both cost recovery graduate programs and self-supporting graduate programs from the fellowship policy. Students enrolled in these programs would be able to accept fellowships and collect the stipend for them, but would not be granted tuition waivers.
Revised Recommendation 5.
With regard to assistantship waivers, we recommend that the Graduate College work with the Provost’s office to clarify the definition of cost recovery and self-supporting graduate programs, to undertake an inventory of current cost recovery graduate programs and self-supporting graduate programs, and to regularize the procedures by which a graduate program is approved as either cost recovery or self-supporting. The goal is to protect the tuition revenue generating capacity of units in these categories.
With regard to fellowship waivers, we recommend that the Graduate College revise the fellowship tuition waiver policy to exempt both cost recovery and self-supporting graduate programs from the graduate fellowship tuition waiver policy. The Graduate College Executive Committee is the proper body to implement this change. Recommended implementation date: fall semester 2010.