Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994 TAG: 9403260043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Big news for more than 2,000 graduate students at Virginia Tech: You may get your tuition paid next year.
"Is this true?" asked Dave Teter, a graduate student in materials science and engineering who has been hearing such rumors for a month.
It may be - for those who were a graduate teaching assistant or research assistant last fall. Like most offers in life, some restrictions may apply. One includes the final approval of Tech's board of visitors, which meets next month.
The proposal - "long overdue," according to one observer - would make Tech's graduate programs more competitive with its peer schools around the country.
Tech does not offer the tuition waivers found at many graduate schools. That means $4,000 in tuition comes out of a typical $10,000 or $12,000 graduate teaching or research assistantship, leaving precious little to live on.
Meantime, schools elsewhere offer those sums and waive tuition, too. As bidding among graduate schools for good students escalates, Tech - saddled with recession-era cuts - cannot keep up.
"Virginia Tech has slipped over the past few years," said Len Peters, dean of the graduate school. "We're trying to put together a package to be more competitive with our peer institutions."
Like a horse trader at auction, one department under Peters' watch is bidding for a top student. Cornell University and North Carolina State University are recruiting, too. Peters knows his school offers the academics the student wants, but he's wary.
"We're about $2,500 shy," Peters said. "That student has very good reasons why he wants to come to Virginia Tech, but can that student afford $200 less a month to do it?"
Funding plans for the proposed tuition scholarships still are being developed. However, Peters said he expects $1.6 million in new funding to go toward the plan, drawn from two sources. One may be part of the General Assembly's added funding this year for students around the state. Tech got $2.77 million for the next two years.
Another may come from the ongoing internal reorganization at Tech, where each department has been asked to shave 1.5 percent of its budget. In addition, research grants and contracts will add to the pot.
Tech already gives fellowship money to graduate students - $4.3 million this year, Peters said. This tuition money will be added onto that.
"It's going to bring a lot of programs to a more competitive level," said Tim Schell, president of Tech's Graduate Student Assembly. "I think overwhelmingly students here will be pleased with it."
Certainly, that's the case with Teter.
"There are a lot of graduate students here who are frustrated at Tech, and going to schools that are more competitive with their offers. Tech's very competent academically, but not competent financially. This will put Tech back on a level with some of the best engineering schools in the country, like N.C. State and Cornell," he said.
The next issue for Tech's starving-student budget: to eliminate the required payment of summer-school tuition. Students who now are working on a thesis or doctorate must pay tuition - even if their advisers are not around to help. Last year, that cost $1,000.
Peters said he "has heard implications of inequities," and is reminding professors that Tech policy requires payment of summer tuition.
Still, stipends and tuition scholarships do not cover summer costs. "I guess that's the biggest concern now," said Schell.
by CNB