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LAWRENCE -- More than 300 graduate research assistants will have their tuition costs covered thanks to a new program at the University of Kansas.
For the first time in school history, a tuition assistance program for graduate research assistants, or GRAs, will be offered beginning in the spring 2003 semester. The program was made possible through an allocation of $750,000 from the $8.6 million in revenue generated through the tuition increase that took effect this fall.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor David Shulenburger said the tuition assistance program would benefit both graduate researchers and the university by attracting high-quality graduate students and helping KU progress toward Chancellor Robert Hemenway's goal of ranking among the top 25 public research universities.
"Faculty cannot carry out large-scale research projects without having research assistants. It works both ways," Shulenburger said. "You can't really educate doctoral students fully unless they can be involved in these large-scale projects -- so there is definitely a synergy involved."
Of the more than 600 GRAs enrolled at KU, many have their tuition costs covered through the grants that employ them. Several agencies, however, stipulate that their grants not include tuition costs for graduate researchers. Officials at the KU Center for Research estimate that the new tuition assistance program will help about 300 GRAs whose tuition is not covered by the grants that employ them. Furthermore, the program will set aside funds to aide about 30 incoming GRAs.
Diana Carlin, dean of the graduate school and international programs, was one of several KU administrators who advocated the tuition assistance program. She said the program made perfect sense in the context of the university's threefold mission of teaching, research and service.
"Research is what we do at a research university, and it is very important that we have top-notch graduate students to assist faculty with their projects," Carlin said.
The tuition assistance program also would encourage more graduate students to participate in research opportunities, she said, since they now will receive the same benefit as graduate students who teach. KU has long had a tuition assistance program for graduate teaching assistants.
As someone who works with GRAs on both the administrative level and on research projects, John Colombo, associate dean of the graduate school and professor of psychology, said the program would help graduate students as well as faculty researchers. In addition, he said, the GRA tuition program would prove an important recruiting tool for faculty.
"It's a way to improve the overall financial packages that you use in recruiting high-quality graduate students to KU," he said. "It takes essentially $2,500 to $3,000 that would have come out of their salary and lets them keep it."
Colombo, who typically employs about three to five GRAs on his projects each year, said the tuition assistance for GRAs puts KU in step with many of its peer institutions.
"It is something that our competitors are offering," he said. "It will definitely make the University of Kansas more competitive."
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