SUBJECT:

Graduate Student Funding Reform Update

We are undertaking a comprehensive reform of graduate student funding at UC San Diego, which includes working toward a model where all Doctoral students would be admitted with five years of guaranteed financial support. While several aspects of graduate student funding are still under discussion with the campus community, we have already implemented some meaningful changes, effective this academic year, to improve transparency and enhance financial support for Doctoral and MFA students.

These important reform measures include the following:

1. The Graduate Student Researcher Tuition and Fee (GSRTF) remission process has been revised to be independent of the Block Grant. This will eliminate the annual positive or negative adjustment to the Block Grant allocations to departments. Rather, the GSRTF process now includes an internal annual adjustment to correct for any mismatch between funds and expenditures.

2. Graduate students remain eligible for tuition and fee payments and other benefits according to the criteria of their appointment(s). The cost of the tuition and fee payments and other benefits will be charged proportionally across the funding sources of the student’s support.

3. Effective winter quarter, Doctoral and MFA students must be supported at a minimum of the equivalent of a 50% Teaching Assistantship. The minimum may be met by a combination of appointments and/or fellowships. The student’s home department is responsible for monitoring their level of support. The Graduate Dean has the authority to grant limited exceptions to this policy when deemed appropriate and in the best interest of the student.

We continue to study other aspects of the graduate student funding model, such as Block Grant and TA allocation models, and will report further updates as next steps are determined. Please direct any inquiries to Steve Ross, AVC for Resource Administration at sross@ucsd.edu.

Elizabeth H. Simmons Executive Vice Chancellor James Antony Dean, Graduate Division