Currently tuition system at UVA is unique → to our detriment
Fluctuating charge based on kind and amount of course enrollment → graded vs. Ungraded
DOES NOT affect med, biomed, engineering → ONLY college portion of GSAS
High for the first 2 or 3 years ($28k incl fees) then negligible ($4k incl fees → only $806 is tuition) with flux in the middle years (out of state student #s)
most paid by GSAS to dept then back to GSAS
this year 100% of Ph.D. students are funded based on restructuring, some masters students are self paid, but rel. Rare
Depts. Discouraged from having masters programs
Based on the mix of graded and ungraded courses you choose to take
DGS’s have strong incentive to jam first years with graded classes → later years will even discourage taking graded classes
Why do we need a new structure:
Address future deficits in GSAS budget for upcoming years
Amount of tuition coming in has been overestimated (by ~$1 mil) for years
Give students freedom to take the classes they need, when they need them (incl. Audits)
Make the system understandable to everyone, simplify
Differentiate terminal/professional masters tuition rates from doctoral rates
related to value in job market (masters leads to value in marketplace in the short term, should charge accordingly)
Optimize tuition recovery from training grants, fellowship awards, and 3rd party funding
a lot of money left on the table for research grants because cost of our tuition is so low
Optimize tuition recovery from faculty research grants
Enable more accurate planning of revenue and spending
Mitigate scale of disparity between early and later rates
Hard for GSAS to do budget planning
Comparison to other institutions
Undergrad→ 38/83 institutions surveyed
Graduate→ 27/67 institutions surveyed
Trend: we are much lower than other institutions and the other units at the university → the lowest tuition charged by any unit at UVA
How/Why is this?
Nothing to gain as GSAS/depts. if tuition were increased
Departments with many PI's (eg. sciences): want tuition to be low because high tuition results in more charged on their grants
Historically: all tuition goes to central budget office, then is redistributed throughout the university
GSAS/depts. may or may not ever see again
So, there is incentive to oppose any sort of tuition increase on the part of faculty
This is different for other schools because they recycle tuition, have more autonomy → fought this battle years ago
Have managed to use these funds to their benefit
Units within UVA with autonomy have freedom to do great things within the university
Comparison:
UVA only higher than VT and Texas for first year rates
For advanced tuition: Lowest (we charge half of the next lowest school (Duke) whose advanced tuition takes effect in year 5)
Q: what about advanced funding packages (eg. 6 year packages) that are offered at other schools
These are very rare, begins to create perverse incentives, but other schools can afford this bc charge higher fees overall
Chronic weakness:
GSAS has challenging budget outlook for next year → can and should be self sufficient
Q: are all schools going to start doing this (will it become standard business practice)?
Flat rates starting to be adopted universally, but there is no set of best practices that are standard universally, this is angering faculty at some schools
The Proposal:
Flat rate for years 1-3
No differentiation for different kinds of credit hours
Flat rate for 4 years to completion
Different rate for terminal/professional masters program
Opportunity for different departments to charge more eventually
***Reduced comprehensive fee for students studying away from grounds
Limit use of “continuous enrollment” to its original purpose
just used for students who were finished until they could schedule their defense
not used for students studying away from grounds, as has been done previously
GSAS will recycle increased cash flow back into the support accounts by department
Essentially will take the place of central budget office, but will ensure money stays in GSAS/returns to departments from whence it came
Q: Is this going to force out grad students after the 4th year?
It will likely encourage timely matriculation, but other opportunities will exist to fund senior grad students if they need to stay
Q: How will this affect family (maternity/paternity) leave?
Family leave will essentially stop the clock on department support and will be picked up when you return → does not count against your four years of support
Q: if you study abroad for a year with outside funding, do you advance a year when you return?
Yes, this counts against your total years (unless your dept has a special deal with GSAS, eg. Anthro)
Rates:
Reduce top rate by $1000
Increase rate for advanced doctoral students by $3500 (to $7382)
Increase rate for terminal/professional masters students by $1000
Sciences: won't charge more than $8000 to a grant → still cheaper than typical $10000 for other schools
Will offer incentives for depts. that support GSAS:
if your PI’s charge more to grants, then GSAS will return the money to the dept
Departments can only use this money to 1) hire more faculty or 2) raise grad support
Can’t use it to raise faculty salaries (excluding tenure promotion)
Disadvantages:
Raising tuition for unsupported students
Fix by pushing more fellowship money towards departments
There is now an increased incentive for long-term students to graduate
Questions:
Will this affect everyone in the next school year?
Yes, but then money will be pushed back into the department to pad the legacy students
Will fund all departments next year as if restructuring was complete→ will allow support for all (hopefully)
How will TA wages change with this?
All TA tuition will be paid in full, dept does not have any incentive to lower stipend
What about departments who are having grad students teach instead of hiring adjunct faculty?
Completely separate, can lobby for the increased cost of living (tuition not supported) but will have health insurance paid
What will grad students have to face? Will departments actually use their funds to support legacy students?
This decision has been pushed to the departments → GSAS pushes funding to depts., it is up to depts. To designate for dissertation year fellowships
Effectively, GSAS is replacing central funding authority by making budgets by department and giving depts. More money back → gives them more discretion about what to do with it
Completion rates are important to the departments → don’t have incentive to keep students forever
