BU Graduate School - Fellowship Incentive Plan

Fellowship Incentive Plan

Purpose

To develop a fellowship fund to enhance TA/GA stipend levels for doctoral track students and, thus, assist with recruitment of quality applicants.

Basic Plan

Graduate programs contract with the Graduate School to enroll a specified number of new self-supporting masters students in combined degree programs or new self-supporting students in graduate certificate programs and having done so receive a specified number of fellowships that enhance the base TA/GA stipend for their discipline to at least the 75th percentile of the Nebraska Study. Due to the nature of graduate certificates and combination degrees (i.e., students may drop out more often than in standard programs), tuition must be received before it can be allocated; that is, the plan cannot advance fellowship dollars to graduate programs with a promise from them to generate this revenue.

Base-line

• Current 3-year average of graduate head-count (and AAFTE) will be used to establish the base-line number of self-supported graduate students enrolled in a unit's graduate program.
• "New" self-supporting students must exceed the base-line.
• Depending on the unit (e.g., change in faculty:graduate student ratio), the base-line may be adjusted by the Graduate School but only at 3-year intervals.

Criteria to Count as "New"

• Students must be enrolled (e.g., for Pilot Year Proposal '04-05, must be enrolled '04-05)
• Students must have completed one semester of graduate course study in combined degree or certificate program (e.g., in Pilot Year '04-05, completed one semester to count as new)
• Students must have completed the application process for the combined degree or certificate
• Students must have paid the processing fee
• New students enrolled in the graduate program for a non-combination degree program and working on the Certificate in College Teaching and other certificates embedded in their graduate program cannot be counted toward the "new" part of this plan; that is, the count only applies for selected graduate tracks (i.e., self-supporting student in combination baccalaureate-masters degree programs or self-supporting students for graduate certificates (possibly non-degree students or students in other graduate programs)

Criteria for Fellowship Award

• For recruiting new doctoral track students (exception for programs with terminal masters)
• It is expected that the fellowship will be used to enroll quality applicants that could not be recruited without the fellowship
• Applicants must be admitted by the graduate program and the Graduate School
• Maximum of two years for award (with second year awarded only if the recipient's progress in graduate program is satisfactory)
• Unit must state in the contract with the Graduate School what the criteria are for awarding the fellowship (minimum qualifications, and how applicants will be chosen)
• Unit rather than Graduate School is responsible for approval of recipients
• Unit must approve a written annual report from recipients and indicate that the recipients have made satisfactory progress before awarding the second year
• A second-year award cannot be made if there is a Withdrawn or Incomplete in year one, the GPA is less than 3.0, and/or other stipend/tuition terms in Terms-and-Conditions agreement have not been meet

Procedure for Developing the Contract

• Complete and submit the Incentive Proposal for Graduate Fellowships form.
• Unit must specify the graduate certificate(s) and/or combination degree(s) involved.
• Unit must enroll a specified number of self-supporting (tuition-paying) students beyond the current "averaged over 3 years." headcount and also AAFTE (=average annual full time equivalent). (The Graduate School will calculate headcount and AAFTE.)
• Unit may request a fellowship amount that would create a support offer (stipend and fellowship) that exceeds the Nebraska Study 75th percentile if the unit provides documentation of what 4-5 of its competitors offer (competitor = applicants to BU turned BU down for better offer from that institution).
• After receiving the proposal from the unit, the Graduate School will calculate the number of fellowships that it can provide based on the proposal data, and notify the unit.
• If both the unit and Graduate School reach an agreement, then the contract is signed.
• Notes: Fellowship = dollars to be added to unit's base TA/GA stipend, and the fellowship amount is not eligible for any negotiated raises by the graduate student unions. Unit may supplement the offer package (TA stipend and fellowship) with its own funds (e.g., summer stipend, or academic year enhancement for years 3 and 4).

Pilot Year - 2004-05

In the pilot year, some units that already have officially approved combination degrees (fast-track baccalaureate-masters) or graduate certificates will be invited to submit proposals. In this way, we can ensure that there are enough funds to try this and also work out the details. For example, fellowships for international students cannot be paid by state funds and there are only limited non-state "exchange" funds, so we need to determine the "demand" relative to "resources" for that. With the details worked out, in the following year, the program can be expanded. In the mean time, units can develop graduate certificates and combination degrees, so that they can take advantage of this program in the future. See the Graduate School web site for details about how to develop certificates and combination degrees – the contact person is the Associate Dean (gradsch@binghamton.edu)

Graduate programs eligible for 2004-05 contract, with proposal due 15 May 2004

• Materials Science:
  • Combined Chemistry BS – Materials Science MS
• Engineering:
  • Combined Computer Science BS – Computer Science MS
  • Combined Electrical Engineering BS – Electrical Engineering MS
  • Combined Computer Engineering BS – Electrical Engineering MS
• History:
  • Certificate in Teaching American History
  • Certificate in Teaching European History
  • Certificate in Asian and Asian American Studies (pending local approval)
• EvoS (Evolutionary Studies):
  • Certificate in Evolutionary Studies

Example

This plan could be a big boost for a graduate program because of the doctoral support it creates. Let's say that according to the program, to bring an offer to a competitive level requires ~5-9k more than the current TA/GA stipend. It is important to realize that the Nebraska Study is already dated (data several years old), and in the sciences support packages (excluding tuition) are in general between 16-22k. Furthermore, let's say that the program recognizes that it needs to shift students to RPA lines for years 3-4, which will require 16-20k stipend package per student. (This "model" of 1-2 years as TA then finish as RPA is similar to what Stony Brook does.) Let's say that the range of capacity for 3+2s in this program is about one to four 5th year students per year. If a program enrolls for 2004-05 two 5th year self-supporting graduate students in its 3+2 program, it would generate $13,800 (2 x $6,900 in-state tuition). Let's say that the base TA/GA stipend for the program is $12,750. At 50% back to the program ($6,900), that could bring a support package to $19,650 ($12,750 stipend plus $6,900 fellowship) for one year, or two support packages at $16,200 ($12,750 stipend plus $3,450 fellowship) for either two students for one year, or one student for two years.