Senior thesis funding applications rise, funding availability lags

The number of students requesting senior thesis research funding has increased nearly 50 percent over the past three years, causing some students to walk away with little money.

In past years, 115 to 120 seniors generally requested money in the fall to fund their senior thesis work, said Richard Williams, associate dean of the college. This year, however, in the fall application round 176 students requested money to finance their senior work.

"This year the problem was that there was little increase in the money available, and more students requesting money," Williams said.

Seniors are given the opportunity to apply for financial support twice a year. The Class of 2001 had 187 monetary requests after the fall and summer application periods. The Class of 2002 had 226 seniors request funding, Williams said.

This year's number of requests has followed the upward trend with 275 applicants, he said. The College Office allotted about $80,000 for thesis funding for the fall application period.

"I did a study abroad program in Cuba, which was privately funded. And then this year I applied for funding for a second round in Cuba to follow up on both my theses," said Eliza Gregory '03, a comparative literature major doing a creative writing thesis and a portfolio for a visual arts certificate.

"Everyone involved in the process was very kind, but I was only awarded $500 and a small amount of money from the visual arts department. I still need about $1,200. It is going to take a lot of running around and a lot more work to try to get the money I need for the project."

Though there is less money available per student than in previous years, it is very seldom that students receive no funding, Williams said.

"We really want to encourage people to do this," he said, "and are therefore much more inclined to provide some support for everyone."

When proposals for thesis work are submitted to the College Office, departments and advisers are asked to rank the requests. There are rare occasions, Williams said, when a poor proposal will receive no funding.

For those proposals that receive inadequate funding, students can use other University funds available for senior thesis research, he said. Many departments have internal research funds, and alumni classes specifically support senior thesis research.

Williams credited the increase in applications to the availability of funds.

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"It is amazing how much more money we have now than when I started this position," Williams said. "However it seems that if I have $1 I need $3, and if I have $1,000 I need $3,000. The need is always larger than the supply."

More students are traveling internationally, where transportation is very expensive, Williams said.

This increase in international travel for theses is related to the University's increase in encouraging study abroad, he said.

Sometimes departments are more active in encouraging students to apply for aid and complete research than other times, Williams said.

He cited a large jump in the number of students from the architecture school requesting funding. Of the Class of 2002, 14 students applied for aid, whereas in this year's fall application alone, 21 seniors applied for funding.

Students who apply for aid from affluent departments are not likely to receive College Office funding because the departments have their own funds, Williams said.

However, many large departments have no internal money to draw from, he said.

Money available from the College Office comes from nine funds. While some funds are general, many are specific to an area of study.

For example, the Public Policy fund is large, but can only be used for public policy research, Williams said, making it common for public policy concentrators to receive $1,000 to $2,000 of funding. For students in other areas, it is rare to collect more than $500.