Some graduate students are going to be paid even more next year to attend UNC.
The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy announced last week that it will increase its stipend for graduate students by $4,500 during the next two years.
Graduate students in the school receive a $23,000 stipend to cover the cost of living, since many don’t have a job outside of their research or teaching responsibilities.
That amount will increase to $25,500 this fall and to $27,500 in fall of 2013.
“We’re just exuberant because this will allow us to fully focus ourselves on our research,” said Michael Perfetti, president of the Pharmaceutical Science graduate student organization, who advocated for the stipend increase. “It makes us feel valued and respected by the faculty.”
Graduate pharmacy students pay more than $18,000 to attend in each of their first two years, while out-of-state students pay almost $40,000 during the same period, according to the school’s website.
Students must still pay tuition, but can use their stipend for any kind of expense, Perfetti said.
The extra money for the stipend comes from an ongoing increase in the number of grants the school receives, said Roy Hawke, assistant dean and director of graduate studies in the school.
“Since (Dean Bob Blouin) has been here for the last seven years, he has helped us move in total grant funding from 20th in the nation to second,” Hawke said. “It’s a way of enhancing the overall program by putting money back into it.”
The University of California at San Francisco is the school’s greatest competitor, Hawke said, but he added that he envisions UNC overtaking it in the near future.