Brown's competition for graduate student recruitment - particularly in the sciences - is intense. An annual commitment of $4 million for graduate student financial aid would go far, members are told
An annual commitment of $4 million would enable Brown to offer each graduate student in a Ph.D. program five years of financial support, according to a report presented on March 13 to members of the Advisory Committee on University Planning (ACUP).
The presentation was made by Peder Estrup, dean of the Graduate School and research. He was joined by Associate Dean Joan Lusk.
Brown's competition for graduate student recruitment - particularly in the sciences - is intense. "If we want to compete, then we have to compete with schools that have raised $200 million for fellowships," Lusk said.
Current financial support for graduate students is a patchwork of fellowships, teaching or research assistantships, dissertation fellowships, proctorships, scholarships and summer stipends, Estrup said. The model he and Lusk presented would guarantee five years of financial support to every graduate student in a Ph.D. program as long as the student was progressing academically. (There are 1,352 students in the Graduate School, and 1,163 are enrolled in one of Brown's 34 Ph.D. programs, Estrup said.) Support in the first and fifth years would be in the form of full fellowships that would not require the recipient to teach. Summer stipends would be offered to graduate students working on dissertation projects.
ACUP also heard a report presented by Mushtaq Gunja '00, chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board. The board seeks a $16 increase in the student activity fee to help balance its budget.
However, ACUP members noted that the board calculated incorrectly. UFB assumed an undergraduate student body of 5,600; the University calculates its budget based on the number of undergraduates set by the Corporation - 5,450.
Using the corrected figure, Provost Kathryn Spoehr, who chairs ACUP, noted that the board only needs an $11 increase - $6 of which has already been approved for fiscal year 2001. ACUP members offered several alternatives to increasing the fee an additional $5, including reducing the amounts granted to student groups, refusing to fund some groups, or reducing the number of groups eligible for funds.
ACUP's next meeting will be April 3 from 3-4:45 p.m. in University Hall. On the agenda are new resources, associated program costs, and need-blind admissions.