April 2000
Graduate
education is an essential component of any modern university that strives to be
responsive to its larger community through the development and transfer of
knowledge. Graduate education,
research, scholarly and creative activities are linked not only to one another,
but also to excellence in undergraduate education, economic development, and
the quality of life in North Carolina.
Strong programs in research and graduate education produce new insights
for the state and the nation, new knowledge, new technologies, and the cultural
awareness necessary to maintain global leadership and achieve the quality of
life our society desires. Strong
graduate programs also help attract outstanding faculty, students and resources
that enable institutions to achieve their full academic potential.
This
paper examines graduate education in the UNC system, with the focus on future
directions, needs and opportunities.
The content has been discussed by the representatives of the North
Carolina Conference of Graduate Deans. The
positions expressed in this document and in the executive summary are endorsed
by all member deans.
Of
the 16 institutions within the North Carolina system, 14 currently offer
graduate programs. Two of our
institutions are Research I, two are Doctoral and eight others are
comprehensive with master's degrees in a range of areas. The North Carolina Board of Governors has
granted planning permission to several new programs, and eliminated others
system-wide. Given limited resources
and our overall commitment to maintain a very high quality system of higher
education, questions about duplication of programs must be considered. At the same time, we note increasing demands
for a highly trained work force, the emergence of programs that have specific geographic
cachement areas and the efforts of all our campuses to offer their students an
increasing range of opportunities.
According
to the Board of Governors' 1998-2003 Long-range planning document, North
Carolina has undergone a major economic transformation in the last
quarter-century-from a state largely dependent on agriculture and
widely-dispersed low-wage industries to a more urban environment that has seen
most job growth in the service and trade sectors. Employers' increasing educational and skill expectations and
decreases in the growth of mid-wage jobs suggest that larger jumps in skill
levels will be needed for low-paid workers to move up the economic ladder. North Carolina's educational sectors must
increasingly take into account the state's expanded international presence as
educational programs are planned and evaluated. Within the education sector, the public schools, community
colleges and four-year colleges and universities must coordinate their educational
offerings to support these initiatives.
Like other programs of higher education, the graduate education
enterprise in North Carolina is affected by these transformations. New programs are being formed in response to
economic changes while longstanding programs are being reorganized and adapted
to fluctuating demands. Examples of
these changes can be found throughout the 16-campus system. As described in greater detail later, recent
requests for new programs within the North Carolina system---in Marine
Sciences; Architecture and Environmental Design; Russian and Eastern European
Studies, Human Movement Science---go far beyond the traditional academic
disciplines, proposing curricula that cross several traditional disciples and
provide greater flexibility to respond to changing educational demands.
As
the organization of disciplines becomes more interdisciplinary, so do the
educational demands for future faculty.
It is no longer sufficient to provide only training within the
discipline. The preparation of future
faculty, as well as of leaders in industry and the public sector, requires a
broader range of skills. In order for
North Carolina to maintain the high quality of its college and university
faculty, our future professorate must acquire the technological skills that
will allow them to deliver information in the 21st century. Our future faculty must learn to go beyond
their discipline, to be scholars within an interdisciplinary, team-oriented
environment.
As
a result of these changing demands, the preparation of students for both
academic and professional careers becomes much more demanding, requiring
opportunities for instruction and training outside of the classroom. Today's graduate student demands (and
hopefully finds) opportunities to develop leadership and communication
skills. They seek out interdisciplinary
forums; they develop their technical literacy; they learn to work together as
interactive team members.
The
UNC system offers 160 degree program options at the master's and doctoral
levels (1998-99 inventory). Although
the distinction between master's level education and doctoral level education
is not always clear, there are some general differences that can guide
decisions in this area. In general, the
doctoral degree (Ph.D.) is a research-oriented degree, with emphasis on
training for academic or research positions.
Although some disciplines use the master's degree as a first step
towards the doctoral degree, or as preparation for teaching at smaller academic
institutions (e.g., community colleges), the traditional master's degree is
usually professionally-oriented.
In
general, students in research-oriented programs such as the Ph.D. tend to have
fewer financial resources than students in more professionally oriented
master's programs. Students in
professional degree programs are more likely to be mid-career professionals,
those who anticipate credentialing requirements and/or who desire professional
rewards that are tied to acquiring new skills.
Financial support for students in professional degree programs is more
likely to come from outside sources (funding agencies, employers); whereas
academically-oriented Ph.D. students depend on financial support through
teaching or research assistantships and limited resources from research
foundations such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Finally, since the master's degree requires much
less time to complete than the Ph.D. degree, the student assumes a smaller
financial commitment throughout their training. These differences are important considerations as North Carolina
develops new graduate programs and considers strategies for attracting
qualified students into those programs.
As the role of graduate education within each of the 16 campuses evolves, it will be especially important to
remember that graduate education serves a variety of functions--both academic
and professional--and therefore attracts a very diverse student body, diverse
both in its financial needs as well as in age, experience, and overall career
goals.
E. Promoting a Diverse
Student Body
To achieve and maintain excellence in higher
education, universities and colleges require environments that provide
opportunities to exchange a wide variety of perspectives, theories and
strategies. Diversity of faculty and
students plays a major role in promoting the exchange and creation of
knowledge. Cooperative learning is at
its best among individuals who come from different regions, who bring different
life experiences, and who represent different cultural and ethnic groups.
Recent
reports indicate that minority enrollments, especially within graduate science
and engineering programs, have declined precipitously (Science 281: 1778, 1998;
AAAS, 1998). Although uncertainty about
race-sensitive admissions processes seems to have taken its toll across the
country, the North Carolina system has not experienced the same level of
decline, at least not as of 1998.
Unfortunately, relatively good news about the situation in North
Carolina does not indicate that all is well nor that it would be appropriate to
eliminate any of our ongoing initiatives.
Cooperative programs such as those that exist between NC A&T, NCCU,
Pembroke and UNCCH to create a pipeline
for minority students in the sciences are absolutely crucial. Fellowship opportunities for Black and
Native American graduate students from North Carolina will require redefinition
in order to allow us to take advantage of this recruitment opportunity.
Proactive initiatives to interest these students in graduate education must
continue if North Carolina is to maintain the gains it has made in this area.
The universities and colleges within the North
Carolina system meet the needs of a highly diverse student body---minorities,
women and older, non-traditional students.
Many of our historically minority institutions that have traditionally
served the needs of African-American and Native American students are
recruiting and educating students of all ethnic backgrounds. Majority institutions within the state are increasingly
meeting the needs of minorities and female students from rural and urban areas
within the state. Evidence of these
trends is apparent in college enrollment trends. Based on data provided in the Long-range Plan of 1998-2003 of the
University of North Carolina Board of Governors, minorities constitute about
20% of the enrollment in North Carolina colleges and universities. Close to 10% are enrolled in historically
white UNC institutions. All
universities and colleges attract and meet the needs of female students. Close to 60% of our enrollments in UNC
institutions of higher education are women.
Graduate programs are actively pursuing strategies
to achieve academic excellence and recognize the importance of attracting and
building a diverse student body.
However, recent challenges of affirmative action policies and programs
have forced minority and majority institutions to seek innovative ways to
increase diversity among faculty and students.
A number of models are emerging to maintain diverse learning
environments. Universities are
implementing “Bridge Programs” between universities to channel undergraduates
into graduate programs at the Master’s and Ph.D. level. In “Bridge Programs” faculty at minority and
majority institutions work closely together to develop opportunities for
students to obtain research experience while learning about careers as
scientists, researchers and educators.
Other efforts include collaborative research projects across
institutions. The informal contacts and
friendships that have formed among faculty promote institutional exchanges of
students between historically white and minority institutions of higher
learning. Several majority institutions
have also implemented summer research experience programs for minority and
disadvantaged students. The intent is
to expose these students to graduate opportunities within their fields of
interest. The payoff of these programs
is great. The majority of students who
spend their summers as research interns enroll in professional and graduate
programs.
Master’s and Ph.D. degree institutions are also
pursuing strategies to educate hard-to-reach populations about graduate
opportunities. Target groups include
low-income families in rural and urban areas, those serving in the military,
and minorities. Educational sessions,
such as visits to career and graduate fairs, are being complemented by efforts
to discuss graduate studies in public high schools and at community
events. Universities are also engaged
in marketing efforts that employ the use of communications technologies. Graduate programs increasingly use the World
Wide Web to inform potential students about graduate studies and fellowship
opportunities. Some programs also allow
students to apply to programs online.
We find that low-income families and minorities are increasingly using
the Internet to receive information, and ask questions about graduate
programs. We expect this trend to
expand in the future. However, we recognize
the need to develop additional strategies to promote diversity within our
student bodies.
Jaroslav
Pelikan declares in his book, “The Idea
of the University – A Re-examination,” that a storm is breaking upon the
university. There are many forces impacting what we teach, whom we teach, and
the resources we have available.
Perhaps one of the most important factors influencing the direction of
graduation education is the demand made by the “new” information age students. Michael G. Dolence and Donald M. Norris in
their work, “Transforming Higher Education – A Vision for Learning in the 21st
Century”, provide a simple thesis implying that there must be a realignment
to the needs of the “Information Age.”
This realignment is envisioned to begin with an assessment of how the
needs of our new stakeholders, customers, and clients will change in the
future. Students entering the graduate
enterprise today are products of the new information age, and thus bring
expectations and new demands stemming from their experience in the computerized
learning environment. Students coming
from such an environment are not bound by traditional walls of academe. Learning is viewed as an open market place
of knowledge. These new information-age
students approach graduate school already having experience with network
systems, very powerful databases, and scholarly exchange networks. Students are quickly becoming aware of the
fact that nobody owns the new learning franchise, and that network learning
eliminates traditional barriers.
The graduate enterprise of the future, if it is to survive, must commit to information networks, distance learning, and electronic classrooms. Graduate institutions will find students eager to assume vastly different roles such as becoming more active learners in the new network environment. There are expectations that the graduate experience in the information age will provide students with an accelerated pace to the degree and at the same time provide practical experience. More and more students expect collaborative team projects, a continuum of learning experience throughout their lifetime.
Graduate education offered by the University of North Carolina System must provide a competitive graduate enterprise that focuses on intellectual accountability and perpetual learning experiences to our new information-age students. Universities offering graduate programs will have to realign resources and develop new strategies and tactics to deliver competencies demanded by the information-age learner. Faculty and administrators must embrace the “cyberspace” student with a challenging “on-line” graduate experience. The various stakeholders of the graduate enterprise must be in a position to apply network scholarship and new learning technologies if the graduate enterprise is to remain competitive. The information-age student will continue to demand the availability to communicate effectively with faculty one-on-one, to have access to global information networks, and to be flexible in our graduate curriculum. There is an increasing expectation that graduate education must enhance productivity of graduate students and provide substantial insight into the demand of scholarship and synthesis of new knowledge in a virtual learning environment. The information-age graduate student expects to approach a barrier-free perpetual learning environment that provides on-line, real-time personalized systems of instruction.
In a recent article titled “Collegiate Life – An Obituary,” Arthur Levine and Jeanette Cureton entertained some of the demands made by the new information-age students. Students are increasingly bringing to graduate and higher education the ATM mentality--education at a fingertip and on-line demand. Their demand for convenience, quality, and service is a continuation of the consumer expectations they exhibit for every other commercial establishment. The new information-age students make larger demands on the graduate enterprise than past students ever did. Levine and Cureton believe students are looking more and more for stripped down versions of traditional colleges or universities. Some have described the new information-age students as “task-orientated and job-focused.” Research by Charles Schroedar indicates more than half of today’s students perform best in a learning environment characterized by direct concrete experiences, moderate-to-high degrees of structure, and a linear approach to learning. The desires of the new information-age student often conflict with those of present-day faculty. According to Schroeder, faculty are more prone to prefer the global to the particular, and are more stimulated by ideas and abstractions unlike their consumer-orientated students. The new graduate student comes to graduate school with the expectation that the graduate enterprise will respond more and more to their needs. Graduate education in the University of North Carolina System must adapt to the information-age student if it is to remain competitive and provide a quality education for these new stakeholders.
III. NEW DIRECTIONS/OPPORTUNITIES
A number of both evolutionary and revolutionary changes in society and higher education are having a profound effect upon graduate education. The rapid advances in information technology have resulted in a veritable explosion in distance education which, in turn, has created both new opportunities and new competition. The new competition is derived from the emergence of highly successful for-profit and not-for-profit electronic and virtual universities. These organizations are now offering full graduate degree programs in North Carolina as well as certification programs in many areas including business, computer technology, and health care. The new opportunities are derived from the same focus and now with the new state appropriations for distance education, the door is open for all of us to expand our virtual graduate programs. In a sense, all schools in the UNC System are at a crucial point; we can either compete or concede defeat to the many non-North Carolina Universities that are already delivering courses in our State. The graduate programs of the UNC System prefer to compete, but we are getting a late start due to the disconnection in state appropriations for distance education.
A second environmental factor derives from changes
in the job market. Ample evidence
exists that we are training too many doctoral students in traditional fields
such as the humanities, physics, and life sciences. However, at the same time we don’t seem to be able to train
adequate numbers of masters’ students in more applied or professional programs
such as computer sciences, technology, physician assistants, physical therapy
and criminal justice. Furthermore, the
demand remains strong for doctoral students in some of the new
interdisciplinary programs such as industrial technology, coastal management
policy, biotechnology and bioenergetics.
A third factor is the growing demand for additional
education by non-traditional students, many of whom are place bound and thus
unable to become a traditional graduate student in residence at one of our
institutions. The fastest growing pool of UNC system wide students are those
who are age 36 and above. Many of these
older students are returning to graduate school after years in the work
force. At present, older students,
those 36 and above, comprise 11% of UNC system enrollment. The projections of students in the 36 + age
cohort are expect to increase by 158% by the year 2003 (projection period 1985
to 2003). These students will add a
diverse perspective to graduate education and will bring a wealth of
experiences to share with faculty, undergraduates and fellow students. Two
examples among others are teachers wanting to complete a MA.Ed or to gain
additional knowledge in a particular area, or computer technicians wanting to
stay abreast of new advances in their fields.
A fourth factor is the economy. The current economy favors a decline in graduate enrollment. Traditionally, when the economy is good, fewer students feel the need to attend graduate school because their earning power is quite high with just an undergraduate degree. In addition, when the economy declines in the rest of the world, foreign students can no longer afford to attend our institutions. Therefore, current economy presents us with a dilemma. Do we respond by eliminating those graduate programs that are not popular at this particular time? Do we increase our recruitment efforts in those programs by offering increased stipends and benefits packages? Or lastly, do we establish new unique programs that might attract students who would normally not be applying for admission to graduate school? Examples of the latter would be place bound non-traditional students. There is no single answer to this question as different solutions will apply to different problems.
As a result of all these changes, several new
directions for graduate education are developing. Anyone who attends meetings of the Council of Graduate Schools
(CGS) or subscribes to its list serve knows of the growing interest in graduate
certificate programs. In a recent email
message, Wayne Patterson, Dean in Residence at CGS, described certificate
programs in the following way:
“Students may be awarded these certificates upon completion of a well-defined program of coursework. The graduate certificate is not defined as a degree by the Graduate School, rather, it is a focused collection of courses that, when completed, affords the student some record of coherent academic accomplishment in a given discipline or set of related disciplines. Moreover, the graduate certificate is not viewed as a guaranteed means of entry into a graduate degree program. While the courses comprising a graduate certificate may be used as evidence in support of a student’s application for admission to a graduate degree program, the certificate itself is not considered to be a prerequisite. The didactic material encompassed within a graduate certificate program may represent a more practice-oriented subset of an existing graduate discipline.”
Examples of such certificate programs include:
Network Professional Certificate; Web Site Developer Professional Certificate;
Applied Statistics; Museum Management and Health Care Management. While growth in graduate certificate
programs is sure to continue, a number of issues about these programs have not
been resolved. These include how the
certificate students are classified.
Are they non-degree or degree students?
Who is credited with their training?
What impact will they have on traditional graduate programs? Who ensures the quality of such programs
(Graduate School or Continuing Studies)?
What are the entrance requirements and performance standards of the
programs and who sets such standards?
How do we deal with faculty reticence to embrace these programs? Should certificate programs appear on
student’s transcripts? These concerns
and issues are many, but they must be quickly resolved since the economic
importance of these programs could be significant.
Nationally, growth in masters’ level education is
occurring in the more applied or professional licensure programs. This trend is predicted to continue as our population
discovers the need for advanced credentials to allow them to successfully
compete in our technologic society.
This is particularly true in computer sciences where a severe national
shortage exists for qualified BS and MS applicants. Likewise, the MBA continues to be a popular degree, and the MA Ed
is becoming the degree of choice for public and private school teachers. Medically related degrees, especially those
which train “physician extenders”, continue to be popular and show tremendous
growth potential. Included in this
category are the Physician Assistant, Occupational and Physical Therapy,
Audiology and Speech Pathology and the various nurse practitioners programs.
To date, the establishment of new master’s programs has been made without new financial resources from the State or UNC General Administration. In addition, the great majority of these programs are designed to serve regional population needs, providing our clientele with convenient, cost-effective programs to enhance their skills; train for new careers; or be promoted in their current position. It is important that our master programs be nimble in responding to the needs of our constituents. Therefore, one questions the need for the laborious, time-consuming process that we endure to achieve permission to plan and establish new masters programs. Perhaps the time has come to streamline the process for establishing these new programs, especially those that are applied, non-thesis and/or lead to professional licensure. Some suggestions for expediting the process of program approval include eliminating the rigid schedule, requiring only a permission to establish document and requiring only senior GA Staff approval.
As stated earlier, evidence exists to support the
claim that nationally we are training too many Ph.D. students in traditional
fields such as the humanities, life sciences and some natural sciences. However, doctoral training is not monolithic
and while overproduction may be a problem in some areas, it is not a problem in
all areas. For example, strong, even
regional demand exists for interdisciplinary programs such as coastal resources
management which requires an understanding of coastal ecosystems, the
socioeconomic systems of populated coastal areas and the relationships between
the natural and human systems of the coast.
Biomedical physics is another example in which one strives to develop
the use of physics to solve problems in biomedical sciences such as the
influence of diagnostic ultrasound on the human body and new imaging methods
with short x-ray pulses. And finally,
in some instances, it might prove quite advantageous to combine distance
education, interdisciplinary studies and multi-institutional cooperation. One such example is the consortial agreement
between nine universities in eight different states to offer a Ph.D. in
technology where most didactic courses are taught over the Internet, students
choose research mentors based upon the strengths of participating institutions,
and all receive their degree from a single university, Indiana State
University. No single institution could
offer such a unique, comprehensive program to respond to the critical shortage
that currently exists of individuals with doctoral training in technology.
Finally, advances in
information technology are posing challenges to the administrative
infrastructure of our Graduate Schools.
For example, these advances have already affected how we recruit new
students and are likely to prompt even more changes in the future. Descriptions of all graduate programs and
their entrance requirements, and application procedures should be on the World
Wide Web. Any program not described on
the Web is likely to fair poorly in competition with programs that are Web
accessible. Most institutions have
provisions for students to request applications over the Internet, and in most
cases they can be downloaded from the institution’s home page. Some institutions are already accepting
applications electronically. However,
before electronic submissions can be truly efficient, all institutions must be
able to electronically send official copies of student’s transcripts to the
Graduate Schools. In addition, some of
our institutions must also solve the problem of accepting credit cards for
payment of the application fees.
IV. UNC’S FUTURE GRADUATE EDUCATION NEEDS
Graduate
students, especially those that receive graduate teaching assistantships (GTAs)
or graduate research assistantships (RAs), are a key element in establishing
excellence in graduate education. By
assisting faculty as well as conducting research for their own dissertations
and theses, graduate students help attract millions of dollars to support the
research missions of UNC institutions each year. They also play an important role in the university’s
instructional mission. Graduate
teaching assistants are often fully or partially responsible for lecture,
laboratory or tutorial sessions. Under
the supervision of experienced professors, graduate students often receive some
of the highest teaching evaluations from undergraduates whom they teach. In addition, having an opportunity to teach
while pursuing a graduate degree is of great benefit to the student. A teaching assistantship enables the student
to acquire confidence in speaking in front of groups in a classroom setting and
to experience firsthand the complexities of preparing and communicating
information to an audience with diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, the teaching experience acquired as a GTA better
prepares those students who enter into full-time teaching positions in high
schools and community colleges. This
experience also enables those students who wish to continue their graduate
education to compete more successfully for GTA appointments in doctoral
programs.
A. Resident and Non-Resident
Students: The Need for Both
Recruiting
and retaining high quality students for its graduate programs is a primary goal
of all graduate programs in the UNC system.
Often these top students are residents of North Carolina, having
completed their undergraduate education in one of the state’s many excellent
private or public institutions. It is
essential that we offer innovative programs and competitive financial packages
to keep these bright young scholars at our state universities. At the same time, we must be able to attract
high quality students from outside North Carolina into our programs. Besides possessing excellent academic
credentials, out-of-state students bring a rich diversity of ethnic, social,
and life experiences to our graduate programs.
The result is a broadening and enrichment of the graduate experience for
all students, faculty and the greater academic community.
Some
additional facts about non-resident graduate students merit discussion. First, they do not displace equally
qualified North Carolina students.
Indeed, no UNC institution admits or enrolls more non-resident than
resident students. Second, many
non-resident students continue to work and live in North Carolina upon
completion of their degrees, thus contributing to the state’s economy and tax
base. Hence, monies allocated to
recruit these individuals to our programs are repaid many times over. Those that do leave North Carolina after
receiving their degree become strong advocates of the state’s educational
system and its unique natural resources, resulting in increased tourism and
economic development.
B. Financing Graduate
Students: A Loss of Competitiveness
The
ability to recruit high quality students (resident and non-resident) into UNC’s
graduate programs is strongly dependent on our ability to offer a competitive
financial package to these prospective students. Unfortunately, for most UNC institutions this is not possible. Current system policy requires all graduate
teaching assistants and research assistants to pay full tuition and fees. For non-resident GTAs and RAs, this means
paying out-of-state tuition, which is substantially higher than in-state. As a result of this policy, UNC schools are
losing top prospects to universities in other states where tuition and fees for
graduate students employed as teachers and researchers are frequently
waived. For example:
·In all states but NC in the Southeast, tuition is waived for GTAs and RAs.
·At the majority of Research I institutions (including Berkeley, Duke, Virginia, Michigan, Emory, Princeton, Illinois, and Penn State), graduate students employed as GTAs or RAs pay no tuition or fees.
·GTAs at the University of Kansas, by action of the legislature, have their tuition waived
·Both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky provide full tuition for GTAs; Kentucky pays the non-resident portion for RAs
·All state institutions in Arizona and Texas waive out-of-state tuition for half-time (or greater) student employees and their families.
The problem facing many UNC institutions is compounded because they are not able to offer stipends for GTAs and RAs that are competitive with their respective peers. Even UNC Chapel Hill, whose stipends are generally competitive, found that 38% of its surveyed competitors offer higher net stipends (the amount left after paying tuition and fees) for their standard recruitment packages. This value rises to 78% when comparisons are made with their competitors’ best recruitment packages.
C. Tuition Remissions: No
Longer Sufficient
To assist UNC schools in recruiting out-of-state students into its graduate programs, most institutions receive a specified number of tuition remissions that they can award to non-resident graduate students who work for the university. A tuition remission represents the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition; its value varies among the different schools, but currently averages about $7,300. Students may receive full or partial remission depending on the number of enrolled credit hours.
Whereas
tuition remissions are a way to treat non-residents and residents equitably for
work performed, they are no longer an effective means of addressing the issue
of financial competitiveness. There are
several reasons for this. First, there
are not enough tuition remissions available in the system to adequately meet
the current needs of constituent institutions.
Even the Research I universities, which receive approximately 80% of the
tuition remissions allocated to the UNC universities, do not have enough to
match needs associated with growing research and teaching programs. Fortunately, through academic enhancement
monies and other institutional resources, both Chapel Hill and NCSU have been
able to create some innovative internal programs to help strengthen financial
packages offered to their graduate students.
Doctoral and Comprehensive institutions, which receive far fewer remissions,
typically do not have access to supplementary institutional funds for
supporting graduate students, although they too have growing graduate programs
and research missions.
A
second reason for the current ineffectiveness of using tuition remissions as a
recruiting tool relates to the issue of residency. Institutions that rigorously interpret North Carolina’s residency
policy have fewer second year students who are reclassified as in-state for
tuition purposes. As a result, they are
obligated to use some of the few tuition remissions available for continuing
second year students, thus limiting the number of awards available for
recruiting new students. Hence, an
institution allocated 18 tuition remissions may in fact have only 9 for
incoming out-of-state students. The
lack of adequate finances forces many of these students to seek outside
employment while enrolled in graduate school, thus weakening their graduate
experience and lengthening the time to degree.
The latter costs the university and the UNC system many additional
dollars.
D. Recommendations for a
Revised UNC Tuition Policy
It
is clear that UNC’s graduate programs must significantly improve their
financial support for graduate students, both residents and non-residents. Moreover, the current tuition remission
policy is neither an adequate or equitable method for recruiting the top
graduate student applicants from outside of North Carolina. Graduate deans who are members of the NC
Conference of Graduate Schools have discussed these and related issues at
length. As an alternative to current
policy, they unanimously support the following recommendations which were
presented to President Broad and Vice President Carroll in Chapel Hill on June
25, 1998:
To improve UNC’s competitiveness in recruiting and retaining highly qualified graduate students, both in-state and out-of-state:
1)
waive
all tuition costs for graduate students who are awarded either a graduate
teaching assistantship or research assistantship (first preference);
2)
award
tuition remissions to all out-of-state graduate students who are awarded either
a graduate teaching assistantship or research assistantship (second preference,
if #1 is not feasible)
E. Health Care Benefits for
Graduate Students
Offering
adequate stipends and waiving or reducing tuition costs for GTAs and RAs are
not the only essential components of a competitive financial package for
recruiting and retaining high quality students in today’s market. It is becoming increasingly important that
universities provide improved health services for graduate students, and
affordable coverage for their spouses, domestic partners and dependents. In the UNC system, the majority of GTAs and
RAs do not receive free or subsidized health-care coverage as part of their
employment benefits packages, even though they work 20 hours or more per
week. Although exact figures indicating
the number of uninsured graduate and professional students are not available,
many graduate students simply do not have health insurance.
An
email survey of Council of Graduate School members produced some helpful
information on this issue. At the
University of Connecticut, all GAs (.5 or .25 FTE) are entitled to coverage
identical to faculty and staff. The
University of Minnesota pays the premium for full time GAs and pays partial
premium for part-time GAs. Similarly,
the University of California at San Diego pays the premium for all GAs employed
full time, as does the University of Washington. At the remaining schools surveyed (Notre Dame, Utah State
University, Northern Illinois University, New Mexico State University, Central
Michigan University, and the University of Vermont), the student may either use
the school’s negotiated plan (through the University Health Service) or
demonstrate equivalent coverage through an existing plan. The University of Georgia reports that only
international students are required to have health insurance and the student
must pay premiums on optional insurance.
However, the University of Georgia is also discussing with the central
office of the University System of Georgia the possibility of their
contributing toward health insurance for graduate assistants.
While
admittedly a small sample, this informal survey indicates that some of the more
progressive institutions pay the health insurance premiums for their graduate
teaching assistants. A financial impact study would have to be conducted to
determine whether or not the UNC system could provide similar benefits for GTAs
at its constituent institutions.
Typically, health insurance plans underwritten by private carriers cost
about $500- $600 per year, with a deductible of about $50 per illness. Graduate students in the UNC system are also
eligible to enroll in the National Association of Graduate and Professional
Students (NAGPS) plan that offers both $200 and $1000 deductible options. The premiums range from $364 ($200
deductible) to $564. Spouse/children
may be added at additional cost. In any
case, providing health insurance (institution or system) would be major benefit
for graduate assistants and greatly improve the competitiveness of financial
packages currently available to these students.
F. Endowed Fellowship
Program
Adequate
resources from the state in the form of tuition relief and health insurance are
essential to attract the very finest students to UNC graduate programs. Students also need reasonable stipends and
research resources that provide opportunities for them to become scholars
within their discipline. Research resources
include well-qualified faculty who are committed to training graduate students
as well as the infrastructure that is required for effective graduate
education--research laboratories, extensive library collections, etc. External funding from federal and state
agencies constitutes an important source of monies for infrastructure
support. Indeed, institutions in the
UNC system brought in approximately 400 million research dollars in fiscal
1997, a high%age of which were devoted to our graduate education enterprise.
The
private sector represents another source of support for graduate
education. In the past few years,
universities across the country have begun to raise funds for graduate
education, and there are more and more examples of successful funding-raising
efforts that focus on the needs of graduate education. One way to optimize funding-raising
opportunities is to develop a matching program in which state funds are used to
match private contributions.
Recently,
the state of North Carolina developed an endowed professorship program that
honors some of its best teacher-scholars and makes it possible for campuses to
recruit and retain outstanding teachers and researchers. In the current North Carolina plan, endowed
professorships are matched on a 2:1 basis, with individual campuses raising
two-thirds of the needed amount from private sources and the North Carolina
Legislature contributing the remaining one-third. A parallel program of endowed graduate fellowships would require
individual campuses to raise two-thirds of the endowment needed for a
fellowship, with the additional one-third coming from state funds.
There
are a variety of ways in which endowed fellowships can be created. For example, an endowment of $225,000 could
be set up to generate a $11,000 Fellowship for a student who is completing
their thesis or dissertation. With a
matching program in place, individual campuses would be required to raise
$150,000 of the endowment and the state would then be asked to match that
endowment with $75,000. Not only does the matching program make it possible for
campuses to realize their own goals of providing support for their students, it
also lets private donors know that the state of North Carolina is supportive of
its graduate education enterprise.
G. Increasing Communication
Achieving
the goals outlined in the white paper and, hence, helping UNC reach its full
potential in graduate education will require an active and open dialogue
between General Administration and institutional representatives. As deans of graduate programs, we are
anxious to strengthen and expand this dialogue. Historically, graduate deans and their staff have played active
roles in the review and approval of requests to establish new graduate programs
at the constituent institutions. This
practice is valuable and should be continued.
We would prefer, however, that General Administration establish a
regular calendar for such meetings (e.g., November and April) so that we could
better anticipate deadlines and facilitate the programmatic planning on each of
our campuses. We also feel strongly
that discussions and decisions on new degree programs should be made during
group meetings in Chapel Hill and not via videoconference. Finally, in addition
to new program requests, the deans would welcome the opportunity to meet
periodically with General Administration to discuss and develop policies and
procedures pertaining to graduate education that have system-wide
implications. The meeting this past
June with President Broad and Vice President Roy Carroll provided an excellent
forum to not only voice concerns but also share opportunities for future growth
and development.
G. Building Bridges with Our
Neighbors
Besides
strengthening working relationships within the state system, we are also
anxious to establish linkages with institutions outside of North Carolina,
especially within the region and with our border neighbors. To this end, we would encourage General
Administration and the Board of Governors to reconsider their participation in
the SREB Academic Common Market. The
Academic Common Market is an interstate agreement for sharing educational
programs and facilities which allows students to participate in selected
programs not offered in their home states without having to pay out-of-state
tuition charges. Presently, North
Carolina is the only state among the 14 participating states in the region
(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West
Virginia) that is not a member of this consortium. As graduate deans, we would welcome the opportunity to pursue
membership on at least a “limited” basis at the graduate level, with each
institution identifying perhaps one to three programs that might qualify for
this program. Although there may be
some potential revenue cost to the system, membership will greatly contribute
to the visibility of our programs and create much goodwill with our academic
neighbors.
Summary
This
white paper addresses only a few of the many challenges we, as graduate
educators, face as we prepare to move into the next century. Indeed, those responsible for the quality of
graduate education in our institutions carry a heavy responsibility for the
future of the university. The current
document focuses on issues that confront all UNC institutions, with
recommendations and/or solutions that are applicable system-wide. Implementation of these would bring the UNC
system in line with other major state systems and, in the process, help level
the playing field among the constituent institutions without negatively
impacting any individual university.