In recent years, we have been reforming graduate funding on our campus to make it more robust, predictable, and equitable – and to improve our ability to recruit the best students. The first significant reform, in Fall 2013, was the GSGEI program that emerged from the campus’s strategic planning process as a way to enable principal investigators to recruit the best possible graduate students, without facing the burden of paying higher tuition for non-resident students. The chancellor and executive vice chancellor (EVC) committed $5.7M for the GSGEI program in 2013/14; this commitment has grown to about $15M today.
In order to provide competitive support for doctoral and MFA students across all disciplines, we undertook several further steps. In early 2020, we established a quarterly funding floor such that each funded student must receive, in any given quarter during the academic year, minimum support equivalent to a 50% TA stipend. This would equate to approximately $22,600 if a student is funded for the full nine-month academic year. Then, we mandated that, starting with the incoming class of Fall 2021, every incoming doctoral/MFA student would receive a guarantee of 5-year /3-year support. Next, we worked with the academic units to align TA allocations with the pedagogical needs of courses. We were poised to go further when the pandemic and associated cuts to the university budget intervened.
As we begin to emerge from the pandemic we are continuing to prioritize the reform of graduate funding. In order to provide a consistent source of graduate support for 12 months of the year, the chancellor and EVC are investing additional recurring resources to establish summer opportunities for doctoral/MFA students who do not already earn a salary or stipend of at least $30,000 per year (academic year plus summer) through some combination of UC San Diego funded and externally funded sources. This is focused on graduate programs where student support has historically been less than $30,000 over 12 months.
Starting in the fall quarter of 2021, every doctoral/MFA student in those programs will have the opportunity to earn a salary or stipend of at least $30,000 per year (12 months, including summer). We will accomplish this by creating a mix of new summer opportunities, both employment-based and fellowship-based. For doctoral students, at least two summers will be supported via fellowship; for MFA students, at least one will be. This will apply to our newly matriculating students within their 5-year/3-year funding guarantee period. Details of how this will apply to continuing students, starting in Fall 2021, will be forthcoming.
This initiative is focused on providing new summer opportunities for all doctoral/MFA students from graduate programs where student support has historically been less than $30,000 total from university-funded and externally-funded salaries or stipends (over 12 months). It is independent of the existing nine-month funding floor for all doctoral/MFA students. The nine-month funding floor will continue to apply to all doctoral/MFA students, regardless of what program they are in or how much they earn during the summer from any UC San Diego or external funding source.
In the spring quarter of 2021, we will convene an Implementation Task Force with personnel from our Graduate Division, the EVC’s business office, academic units, and representation from the Academic Senate and the Graduate and Professional Student Association and charge it with making recommendations to the chancellor and EVC on how to implement the initiative.
