Graduate students will have to wait until this summer to find out whether stipends for their summer studies will be eliminated by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Ohio University's Graduate College, in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences, plans to cut more than $35,000 in mini stipends for graduate students taking summer courses.
It has been a trend for the past couple of years that some departments have been phasing out their financial support
said Tracy Kelly, president of Graduate Student Senate.
A deadline tentatively has been set for mid-July for more information about the cuts, Kelly said.
The university must follow a set structure of guidelines for the dismissal of the
current stipends.
Mini stipends have always followed a process on the campus and it is policy of the Graduate College ... not a process of the College of Arts and Sciences said Howard Dewald, associate dean for Faculty Affairs and Research in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Kelly hopes to convince colleges to reach a verdict on the amount and number of stipends prior to the summer.
I think a lot of the graduate students are going to want to know the availability of funding so they can know whether or not they want to stay Kelly said. It would be wise of the university to encourage them to stay.
Dewald plans to do what he can to get some numbers released earlier for the graduate students.
(I said) I would attempt to
sometime in May
provide more of a definitive answer
Dewald said.
This year, $36,108 is being used for mini stipends in the College of Arts and Sciences. The college provided $39,900 in stipends during the 2008 fiscal year and $21,420 last year, according to numbers provided by Kelly.
Not every program uses university-allotted money for stipends, Kelly said. Some departments do have internal funding
while others do not have the internal funding.
Mini stipend cuts could become a permanent fixture in those colleges that do not have internal funding.
The decrease in mini stipends, though it may seem small, will have a huge impact on the graduate community, Kelly said.
We realize that there is an impact. We would attempt in the next month or so to lessen the impact
but we cannot say at this point
Dewald said.
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