University extends grad student status

A town hall meeting will be held Thursday to discuss changes to the status of graduate students that will take effect this spring. The University will extend graduate student status by two years to accommodate students who have not yet completed their dissertations by the time their designated enrollment is over.

Called Dissertation Completion Enrollment (DCE) status, the plan was announced by the graduate school in August.

Each department designates the length of its own graduate program, usually either four or five years, during which time students are expected to complete all departmental work.

For those students who require more time to complete their dissertations, lack of student privileges can lead to problems with financial aid, visa status and health coverage under the Student Health Plan.

Three years ago, a committee of students, faculty and deans attempted to address these problems by creating the Degree Candidacy Continuing (DCC) status currently in place. This program offers so-called "post-enrolled" students limited benefits, including loan deferral, visa status and an ID card with library access.

But the DCC status still left a number of problems for students, as they were not technically fully enrolled. "Many problems flowed from this non-status status," Associate Dean of Academic Affairs David Redman said. "There was apprehension and confusion, both internally and externally, about what students fell under."

This also caused problems for student funding, as it was difficult to explain to fellowships a student's exact status, Redman said.

The new program is designed to address the problems associated with its predecessor. Students with DCE status will be considered fully enrolled. They will have access to all the privileges associated with student status, including everything offered by the DCC program plus housing eligibility, subsidized health insurance and subsidized gym availability.

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Because they are considered fully enrolled, DCE students will pay a reduced tuition fee rather than no tuition, as was the arrangement under the DCC plan. The predicted tuition rate for this year is $4,500, including the Student Health Plan fee.

Students in the humanities and social sciences are concerned because their departments have less funding to pay for students than science and engineering departments do.

"To achieve DCE status and pay the fee, many graduate students will have to take on time-consuming teaching positions to afford to be a student. Will this really effectively give them the time they need to finish up their dissertations?" Susan Robison, press secretary of the Graduate Student Government (GSG), said in an email.

Overall, however, Redman said the response seems to be "slightly positive." Robison noted that though this is not necessarily a permanent solution to the problem, it is a "giant step forward."

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Graduate Student Government chair Shin-Yi Lin said in an email, "The GSG will continue to work with the Graduate School to continue to address concerns about DCE and post-enrollment in general. The ultimate goal is that the post-enrollment time for graduate students should actually help them graduate."