Continuous enrollment put on hold

Graduate School officials have announced that they will delay implementing the proposed continuous enrollment policy in response to negative feedback.

Graduate School Dean Steve Matson said he made the decision last week after consulting with Provost Bernadette Gray-Little.

""We will revisit some of the current University constraints in order for the revised policy to ensure equitable implementation while also meeting the needs of all graduate students and faculty"" Matson said.

The policy would require graduate students to remain enrolled at UNC and pay tuition and fees while doing off-campus research. The policy in place now is similar but rarely enforced, meaning students can drop out and reenroll without major consequences.

The policy originally was going to be up for approval in April and implemented the following year, but Matson said administrators will not likely meet the April deadline.

He said they will assemble a group composed of students, faculty and administrators to revise the proposed policy.

The policy was developed during the last two years, but students have only learned about it recently.

Administrators say the new policy would allow students to retain benefits, qualify for health insurance and continue to defer student loans.

Some students expressed support for the program but most were worried about how they would pay the additional tuition.

While Matson worked with a small task force of students to develop the plan, graduate students said they wanted greater input in the decision-making process.

Second-year history doctoral student Patrick Tobin said he is cautiously optimistic about the decision but wants to know what it means for graduate students.

We hope that this will mean a greater place for the graduate students in the drafting process"" he said. We support the overall goal of the CEP policy but we feel it hasn't been imposed well.""

Sandi Chapman" a doctoral candidate in political science" said she hopes the delay means that the administration will be open to revision of the policy.

""I don't know if they're going to reopen a more democratic process for creating the policy or whether they're still going to do what they're going to do" just at a different time" she said.

Chapman said the policy was based on a report that states that continuous enrollment can help graduate students get their degrees sooner, but only when accompanied by financial support.

It has to have both parts"" she said. They only took the one that will make the University money and take grad student tuition.""



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