Starting fall 2007, the Graduate School is offering two incentives to spur expansion and enhancement of graduate programs on the Pullman campus.
First, the Graduate School is eliminating its tuition waiver allocation process and simply guaranteeing that state-supported graduate students will receive a tuition waiver. That includes teaching assistants and most research assistants, as well as those hired with Facilities and Administration (F&A) funds.
Most state-funded graduate students already receive a tuition waiver but, because the allocations must be approved by the Graduate School, sometimes departments are unable to respond quickly to changing recruitment opportunities. This new policy will remove that extra step and should not have significant financial ramifications.
Second, WSU’s Pullman Executive Council has approved a program to reward those departments that secure grant money to support graduate students in excess of the department’s average graduate student enrollment from 2004-2007. As part of a three-year pilot program, the Graduate School will allocate $3,500 for each additional student supported by external funds to home departments to use for graduate education.
As part of the university’s strategic plan, the Graduate School has set a goal of increasing graduate enrollment by five percent per year.
“This is costing us a significant amount of money and can only be justified if institutional goals, as articulated in the Graduate Education Commission report, are realized,” said Howard Grimes, dean of the Graduate School. The program will be supported in large part by increases in graduate enrollment, with that funding coming from external funding state or federal grants or private money.
Increased certainty
Grant Norton, associate dean in the College of Engineering and Architecture, welcomed the automatic tuition waiver for graduate students on a state-funded assistantship.
“It’s going to make the process significantly easier,” he said. Instead of telling prospective graduate students that they will mostly likely get a tuition waiver, faculty recruiters can now be very straightforward about the level of support available.
“It’s important when you talk to students that you can be very clear in what you are offering,” Norton said.
“It’s fabulous,” said Judy Mitchell, dean of the College of Education. She said it was reassuring to know that as the College of Education doctoral programs grow, so will the number of tuition waivers.
In fall 2006, Pullman had 1,122 Ph.D. students, both full-time and part-time, of whom 78 percent received some type of graduate assistantship. Of the 977 full-time Ph.D. students this fall, 91 percent are receiving an assistantship.
Under the program, graduate students on a 50 percent assistantship could receive a full tuition waiver, and a graduate student on a less than 50 percent assistantship could receive a partial tuition waiver. The program applies to master’s students as well as Ph.D. students. Graduate students will still be responsible for paying student fees.
Enhancing programs
The second initiative is aimed at increasing both the number and the percentage of doctoral students supported by external funding.
According to the policy, for every graduate student research or project assistant recruited to a department and supported with external funding in excess of a baseline enrollment average determined from 2004 to 2007, the Graduate School will award the department $3,500 to invest in enhancing the quality of their graduate program.
“We are encouraging faculty to put graduate students on grants,” said Mitchell. “I think that will be a really big incentive to do so.”
According to Norton, that extra money could make a big difference in expanding programs, especially if departments use it to bring prospective students to campus.
“It’s probably the most significant thing you can do to recruit a graduate student,” he said.
According to Grimes, the tuition buy-down money can be spent on campus visits or any other program or project that enhances graduate education. The changes are part of a three-year pilot program and will be continued only if the changes do, in fact, drive significant growth, Grimes said.
For more information about the program see www.gradsch.wsu.edu/facultywelcome.html.
