TO THE EDITOR:
Many articles have recently emphasized issues concerning graduate students, from stipends to tuition hikes. Opinions are being aired, but no information has been provided on what you as UNC graduate students can do to ease the graduate school experience during these tough times.
For instance, if you are a teaching assistant, your department is most likely paying your tuition and stipend with money allocated by the graduate school. This money is also used to cover these same expenses for incoming classes.
Do you know where this money comes from? Where is the money from the recent tuition hikes going?
Due to tuition increases and stagnated stipends, the number of incoming graduate students in the physics department has decreased by 30 percent for the last three years.
If fewer graduate students are being admitted or accepting department offers, who will teach the introductory lab courses undergraduates need to graduate? How will departments cope with having fewer TAs? Will class sizes increase or course sections decrease? If class sizes increase, will your stipend increase?
These questions are one way to show department chairs and administrators that we are concerned about the state of a graduate education at UNC.
I would like to bring to your attention a recently launched program by the Graduate and Professional Student Federation called GradAlert! that provides information on current issues affecting graduate students and how to deal with them effectively.
Visit http://gpsf.unc.edu/gradalert and take action now.
