Graduate Programs Under RCM
GRADUATE STUDENT FINANCIAL AID
and
Implementation Principles FOR RCM
(developed by the Graduate School)
Revised May 3, 2000
Purpose
The purpose of this statement is to articulate the principles for distribution of graduate student financial aid under responsibility center management. Because there will be significant changes in the way in which graduate student financial aid is budgeted and accounted, these principles are necessary as a means to assure that graduate students continue to receive the level and types of aid necessary for the recruitment and retention of the highest quality students. In addition, to the extent that graduate student financial aid supports the University’s undergraduate teaching mission, these principles are intended to assure stability and quality in our undergraduate programs.
General Principles
1. The University is committed to attracting and retaining the highest quality graduate students from the state, nation, and world. University-funded graduate student financial aid should be awarded based solely on student qualifications and the needs of academic and research programs.
2. It is the responsibility of graduate programs to recruit students and identify those who should receive graduate assistantships and full-time scholarships. This process should occur without consideration for a student’s residential status and/or the tuition revenue otherwise anticipated from a particular candidate.
3. It is the responsibility of the Graduate School to review and approve all offers of admission to graduate programs and all graduate appointments for teaching, research, and project assistants. The Graduate School establishes the terms of appointment for all assistantships, including the minimum (base) stipend rates, work load expectations, and beginning and ending dates during the academic year.
4. Academic RC units (schools, colleges) will strive to maintain where possible current (FY 00) levels of aid available to graduate students, and will actively seek ways to expand the number of students who receive financial aid as well as the per capita level of aid. Likewise, both academic and research RC units will seeks ways to support graduate students through appointment as project assistants while striving to increase the amount of externally-funded financial aid.
5. The Graduate School will establish a Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee to assess the impact of RCM on the distribution of financial aid, and to determine appropriate strategies for increasing and reallocating the funds available for graduate student financial aid. The Advisory Committee will be appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School in consultation with school/college deans and the Graduate Council, to consist of one graduate program coordinator from each academic RC unit and a representative from the UNH Research Council, the associate dean of the Graduate School (who will chair the committee), and the director of budget and personnel management of the Office of Academic Affairs. The Advisory Committee will report its findings and recommendations annually to the Graduate Council. The role and value of the Advisory Committee will be reviewed as part of the third-year post-implementation institutional assessment of RCM.
6. Beginning in FY 01, all programs will be eligible for the allocation of budgeted and non-permanent graduate assistantships and scholarships. Using tuition revenues and other available resources, school/college deans are encouraged to maintain the same degree of graduate student financial aid as was provided previously, where feasible and in keeping with programmatic goals.
Graduate Appointments
1. RC units will nominate graduate assistants from the pool of eligible students and recommend their appointment to the Graduate School, which will have responsibility for affirming student eligibility and monitoring continuing eligibility during the period of appointment. Current practices and policies governing the appointment and termination of graduate assistants will be maintained (see attached).
2. The non-permanent tuition waivers attached to graduate assistant positions (50 in FY 00) will be distributed by allocating 40 tuition waivers to the academic RC units and maintaining 10 the Graduate School. The FY 01 allocation of non-permanent waivers will reflect FY 00 allocation patterns. As in the past, the 10 centrally held waivers will be used on a discretionary basis to meet special needs within academic RC units. Special needs include enrollment pressures in undergraduate course sections, the recruitment and appointment of minority or international students, and program start-up or expansion activities. Allocation awards for the 10 discretionary waivers will be made by the Dean of the Graduate School, based on recommendations from the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee on an annual basis.
3. The permanently budgeted assistantships (336 including 35 in the AES in FY 00) will continue to be budgeted and allocated in the academic RC units. School/college deans will allocate their unit-based graduate assistantships as they determine appropriate. School/college deans will report their allocation decisions annually to the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. As stated above, all graduate assistant appointments will continue to be reviewed and approved by the Graduate School.
4. Appointments of project assistants, research assistants in the Agricultural Experiment Station, and graduate associates will continue to be based on current practice and will be subject to Graduate School review and confirmation of student eligibility. In FY 01, the non-resident differential account for project assistants will be distributed into academic RC units on a permanent basis.
Tuition Scholarships for Full-Time Students
1. Budgeting for tuition scholarships for full-time students will become decentralized under RCM. Deans will allocate full-time tuition scholarships to graduate programs based on the criteria of centrality, quality, and demand. Such allocations will be reviewed annually of the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. Planned allocations should be submitted to the Graduate School by March 1 each year.
2. Tuition scholarships should be awarded to individual students based primarily on academic merit and regardless of the student’s residential status. The amount of the award will correspond to the tuition rate based on the recipient’s residential status. Student fees are not included in tuition scholarships. All scholarship awards must be approved by the Graduate School to assure student eligibility.
3. Tuition scholarships may be used to recruit special populations to the University, to use as a match with other internal or external funds for the purposes of creating a graduate assistantship, or to provide temporary assistance to a student who is between funding sources. Unless attached to an assistantship, there shall be no work requirements associated with tuition scholarships.
4. Scholarships for full-time students may only be used for students enrolled on a full time basis (9 or more credit hours, master’s continuing research [GRAD 900], or doctoral research [999]). Full-time scholarships may be split in half, to support two full-time students over two consecutive semesters, each with a half-scholarship, or to provide full support for two different students in each of two consecutive semesters. Students must remain in good academic standing each semester (B- or better in all coursework) in order to continue to be eligible for tuition scholarships.
5. In keeping with past practice, the Graduate School will maintain a limited number of tuition scholarships for full-time students (up to 15 per year) to be used primarily for increasing the diversity of the student body (directed at both US and international students). Programs may apply to the Graduate School for use of these tuition scholarships for specified students. For FY 02 and beyond, the number of full-time tuition scholarships awarded in each RC academic unit shall be no less than the number awarded in FY 01.
Tuition Scholarships for Part-Time Students
1. Tuition scholarships for part-time students (those enrolled in fewer than nine credit hours) will continue to be budgeted in the Graduate School and awarded on a competitive basis each semester by the Tuition Scholarship Committee.
2. The distribution of tuition scholarships for part-time students shall be reviewed annually by the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. Recommendations for changes will be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Council as needed.
Dissertation and Summer Teaching Assistant Fellowships
1. Dissertation and summer TA fellowships will continue to be budgeted in the Graduate School and awarded on a competitive basis annually by the appropriate faculty committees.
2. The distribution of dissertation and summer TA fellowships shall be reviewed annually by the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. Recommendations for changes will be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Council as needed.
Dean’s Matching Scholarships
1. The Dean’s Matching Scholarship Program begun in FY 00 will continue in FY 01. Budgeting for the program will be decentralized to each RC academic unit. Each recipient of a Dean’s Matching Scholarship receives a one-half tuition waiver based on the appropriate residential rate. The other half of the tuition charge must come from non-University sources (the student or an external funding source). The criteria for Dean’s Matching Scholarship Awards have been established centrally, and include:
a. Dean’s Matching Scholarships must result in a net increase of new full and part-time time students in the graduate program or stem recent enrollment drops of new students in the program. The baseline to determine the net increase of new students will be the average of new students enrolled for the fall term over the prior three years.b. Matching Scholarships are incentives necessary to enroll new students (i.e. the student would not come to UNH without such support). Programs are encouraged to use Matching Scholarships as a means to attract a more diverse applicant pool.c. Matching Scholarships may be matched with other funds to create new teaching or project assistantships. In such cases, the unit paying the stipend will also pay ½ of the in-state tuition, and if appropriate, the total surcharge applied to grants.d. Programs will be held harmless in the case that enrollments fall below the current baseline after the awarding of one or more Matching Scholarships.e. Only newly matriculating graduate students will be eligible to receive these awards.
f. Students receiving Matching Scholarships will be eligible to have the scholarship renewed for one year in the case of master’s students or two years for PhD students, upon the recommendation of the appropriate graduate program coordinator.
2. The distribution of Dean’s Matching Scholarships shall be reviewed annually by the Graduate Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. Recommendations for changes will be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Council as needed.
