Department discretionary funds and grad student support

Hey BGSA members, have you heard?

There are some big changes being planned to graduate student support at the University level, which could lead to departments like ours having more discretionary funds to use to support graduate students. This will affect newly admitted graduate students starting next year, not current grad students. This would also affect the same pot that is currently used for top-ups, admission scholarships, and other various departmental awards. The BGSA wants to hear your opinions, suggestions, and ideas on how the department might allocate these funds in the future.

Did you know?

• McGill University is restructuring their graduate student funding model, by transferring more control directly to Faculties and departments. (Note: these changes will apply to future new admits, and will not reduce funding to current graduate students).
  • more info here: http://www.mcgill.ca/files/gps/CGPS.10.02.pdf
  • http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/staff/fellowships/grandfatheredmidas/
• McGill University initially started the MIDAs program to encourage international doctoral students to enroll, by offsetting the additional tuition fees mandated by the province. The MIDAs program was therefore intended to act as a recruitment program, a priority the university has strongly suggested should also apply to the new funding model.
• The biology department often receives "unallocated" funds for graduate students from the Faculty of Science, which must be allocated within a very short period of time.During the past 4 years I've been here, I know of at least 3 occasions, including two for which the BGSA was consulted regarding allocation.
• The biology department will be discussing these and possibly other changes to graduate student funding at the upcoming department Assembly on March 10, 2011.

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The BGSA wants to know what you think about:

• How discretionary funds have been allocated by the department in the past?
  • Do you feel it has been effective?
  • Do you feel it has been fair?
• How can the department improve recruitment and retention of top graduate students?
  • What role can discretionary funds play to best achieve this goal?
• How would you like to see discretionary funds allocated by the department?
  • Should funds be allocated based on financial need, merit, other criteria, or a combination?
• Would you like to see written guidelines that the department could use to decide how to allocate discretionary funds in the future?
  • What priorities, values, or procedures would you like to see in such guidelines?

Feel free to respond to individual questions above by email, or an anonymous note in my mailbox,or come to an informal discussion this Thursday at 5PM in Stewart Biology N5/1
Thanks for your time and input,
Jonathan Whiteley,
PhD candidate
Department of Biology
McGill University
http://jonathanwhiteley.com

Minimum Funding Level for Graduate Students Revised

The minimum level of support guaranteed to graduate students in the department will be increased to $15,500 per year plus fees, starting next academic year (2009-2010). See below for details.

• Presentation on Graduate Student Funding presented at General Assembly
• Graduate Funding Survey Results
• Graduate Funding Survey Summary Graphs
  

The Biology department held another Assembly today, where I was asked to report back and present some statistics concerning the minimum level of support guaranteed to graduate students.

First of all, I want to thank all the people who helped collect data for today's presentation, and who came to the meetings and discussions to help me better represent BGSA members. This presentation prompted a lively discussion between graduate students and faculty at the assembly, and raised many issues related to graduate student support. It was evident that there are divergent views regarding whether graduate studies is a career unto itself, or is training in preparation for a higher-paying career afterwards.

Faculty reminded us that grant resources, needed to cover graduate support in the absence of scholarships, are limited, and that in fact NSERC Discovery grants have not only remained the same for decades, but that they are expected to decrease, which means that raising the minimum level of support increases the financial burden on their shrinking grants. Nevertheless, they were sympathetic to the rising costs of living since 2001, when the minimum level of funding was last reviewed.

The department chair, Paul Lasko, put forward a motion that 'the minimum level of support guaranteed to graduate students in the department be increased to $15,500 per year plus fees, starting next academic year (2009-2010)'. The motion passed, with a few abstentions, but no votes opposed.

I also presented some of the other issues not directly related to the minimum level of funding, and received some useful comments that I will pass on here:
- Firstly, it was pointed out that granting cycles typically last around 3 years, which makes it difficult for Faculty to plan sources of funding for the entire duration of a PhD (4-5 years). Nevertheless, a commitment is made to support incoming graduate students according to the department policies (see http://biology.mcgill.ca/grad/gradstudies.html "Fees and Finacial Support - Scholarships and Awards" section for more info), although there may be some uncertainty regarding how much stipend money will be available beyond the current granting cycle.
- Secondly, I was reminded that the department sends us letters (perhaps via email?) outlining the amount of funding we will receive in the upcoming academic year, and what our TA obligations are expected to be. This information is valuable for planning your finances, so look out for it and keep it for your records.

Jonathan Whiteley