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1202
DOCUMENTS
OF THE GENERAL FACULTY
TUITION
REMISSION FOR GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Mark Southern (Germanic studies), on behalf
of the Research Policy Committee, has filed the motion below regarding
tuition remission for graduate research assistants.
The secretary has classified this motion
as general legislation. The recommendation will be presented to the Faculty
Council for action at its meeting on March 19, 2001.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The Faculty Council
This legislation was posted on the Faculty Council
web site (http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/)
on March 12, 2001. Paper copies are available on request from the Office
of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500.
1203
TUITION
REMISSION FOR GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Motion
Regarding tuition
remission for graduate research assistants [(RAs)] GRAs,1
the Research Policy Committee (RPC) moves and recommends the following:
The
University shall adopt a policy requiring that tuition remission be included
in grant applications on grant proposals that employ students as research
assistants, unless tuition remission is not allowed by the granting
agency.1
If
tuition remission is not written into an application, and if the granting
agency does allow tuition remission, a written justification signed
by
the applicant's dean must be provided by the principal investigator to
Office of Sponsored Projects.
Rationale
| 1. |
It Works. This policy has already been implemented
successfully in the UT College of Engineering.
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| 2. |
Increased Awareness. According to information gathered
by Graduate Student Assembly representatives from every UT department:
(1) the most frequent reason why an [RA] GRA1 is not
receiving tuition remission is that the research grant's principal
investigator did not realize that tuition remission could be included
in a grant; (2) the second most frequent reason is that the [RA]GRA1
is afraid to ask the principal investigator for tuition remission.
Adoption of this motion would remove both of these problems.
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| 3. |
Equity. About 1400 [RA] GRA1
graduate students currently receive tuition remission from contracts
and grants (about 70%); about 600 more are without tuition remission
(about 30%). The majority of principal investigators heading up research
grants already do write tuition remission into grant applications.
Correcting this clear imbalance, whereby a sizable minority of 600
working [(RAs)] GRAs,1 are left without a
tuition waiver, is clearly the right thing to do.
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| 4. |
Competitiveness. As things stand, UT is demonstrably
at a disadvantage, and losing competitiveness, in the absence of such
a tuition remission policy.
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| 5. |
Recruitment. Conversely, once this policy is in place,
it would provide a powerful and attractive benefit for being part
of UT's research community.
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| 6. |
Pragmatism. Recruitment of the best graduate students
is a priority issue for the University, for the graduate school, and
for many faculty members whose research depends on graduate student
[(RAs)] GRAs,1. Graduate student [(RAs')]
GRAs',1 needs must be adequately addressed. Tuition
remission in grant proposals is an issue on which we can become fully
competitive, largely at the expense of the agencies and foundations
that make grants. Proposals that do not ask for tuition remission
are often leaving money on the table.
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| 7. |
Industry standard. A similar policy on tuition remission
in grant applications is common practice at the majority of U.S. universities
comparable to UT.
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1 Amended by the Faculty Council
on April 16, 2001. |
