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Funding Plans to Support Ph.D. Students After the Implementation of the Continuous Enrollment Policy

Students have asked many questions about how their funding will be different once the continuous enrollment policy comes into effect. This summer, the Graduate School is working with all of the schools and colleges to ensure that all have plans for student funding. Here is some further information about the funding plans currently under development.

School and College Funding Plans

  • Every school and college is developing a funding plan. The goal of the plan is to cover the tuition charges for those Ph.D. students who would not be registered under current policies.
  • The funding identified in these plans makes no changes to all of the funding now in place for Ph.D. students through GSI, GSRA, and fellowship appointments. It is additional funding and does not replace the funding packages that students receive at the time that they are offered admission or at the time that they receive external funding. The goal of this new funding is to ensure that students do not experience an increased financial burden as a result of the continuous enrollment policy.
  • Most schools and colleges are planning to create tuition-only fellowships that will be awarded to cover the tuition of students who will be required to register under a continuous enrollment policy but whose circumstances would not have resulted in registration under the old policies. These fellowships will be available to all students who are making satisfactory progress toward completion of their degree. Tuition-only fellowships allow students to register and have their tuition costs paid by the University, but do not include stipends, GradCare or dental insurance.
  • For departments and programs within LSA, these tuition-only fellowships will not count toward the ten-term limit of College support.
  • For schools and colleges that have a departmental structure, the school and college plans will be available to all departments within the unit. However, each department will have some flexibility in designing its own system for providing tuition support to its own students.
  • Some schools and colleges are planning to improve or increase financial support for Ph.D. students in ways that are not connected to the implementation of the continuous enrollment policy. Rackham and the schools and colleges continue to work together toward providing improved funding to students, so that students have the financial means to complete their degrees. Although these changes are not a part of planning for the continuous enrollment policy, these efforts will continue to move forward.
  • We are on schedule for all school and college funding plans to cover the tuition changes anticipated from the continuous enrollment policy to be ready by the end of summer 09. Schools and colleges also are developing communication plans to inform their programs, faculty, and students of the funding plan that will be in place beginning Fall 2010.
  • During Fall Term 2009, Rackham will work with schools, colleges, and individual graduate programs to be sure that the funding plans address the needs of students.

Rackham Graduate School’s Funding Plans

Rackham Graduate School is taking several steps to ensure that students do not experience increased financial burden as a result of the continuous enrollment policy.

  • Rackham has agreed to provide additional funding to those schools and colleges that need funding to provide sufficient tuition-only fellowships to cover all of the students who would not be registered under current policies. These agreements are part of the funding plans for individual schools and colleges.
  • Rackham is increasing the resources that are dedicated to cost-sharing. When students receive selected external grants and fellowships that do not include coverage for tuition, they will be able to receive funding for tuition support from the University. Often the external award pays support for stipend and/or research expenses, and the University’s cost-sharing will cover the students’ tuition expense. Rackham already provides this kind of cost-sharing for a number of external grants and fellowships; these will be expanded to a larger set of external awards. Rackham Graduate School cost sharing website.
  • Rackham is creating special funds to help students with special circumstances, such as those who experience financial hardship in paying reinstatement fees or hardship in transitioning back to active status after a leave of absence.

In addition, the Graduate School plans to monitor closely the experiences of students and graduate programs with various aspects of the policy, so that emerging difficulties in particular departments or programs can be addressed promptly.

Contact

Comments on the policy or further questions can be sent to Rackham by directing e-mail to the Dean's Office.