ASUSU talks additional funding for grad students

A resolution to allocate additional Tier II funding to current and future graduate students at Utah State University, was discussed among members of the ASUSU Executive Council Tuesday.

Since 2003, graduate student enrollment has remained the same since 2003 and their stipends are below average compared to their pier institutions, said Maure Smith, graduate studies vice president, who presented the resolution to the council.

“It’s crucial to the development of the university that we keep and recruit graduate students,” Smith said.

Among USU graduate student’s top priorities are to increase the number of tuition waivers available to them and to increase the minimum standard for graduate student assistantship stipends, Smith said.

Currently, USU graduate students receive a $12,228 annual stipend as compared to the national average of $15,600, according to the resolution policy paper.

“Great faculty aren’t going to come to Utah State if they don’t have great graduate students,” Smith said.

Any more erosion of graduate student support will translate into economic loss for the university in additional start-up funds for new faculty, fewer grant renewals and an increase in overhead, according to the resolution.

Each year, Tier II tuition money is allocated to a certain area of campus that is in need. The council will vote on the resolution during its next meeting on Tuesday on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center.

-mmackay@cc.usu.edu