For graduate students at UCLA, buying that new suit for an
internship or spending extra hours in the lab may become more of a
luxury in light of the proposed 40 percent graduate fee increase
for next year.
Graduate students in professional schools, such as law school
and medical school, sometimes incur substantial costs outside the
regular fees.
“There’s all kinds of extra expenses for us,”
said Shane McKay, a second-year law student.
Besides buying costly suits for internships and mock trials, law
students are seeing their university fees increase multifold.
“It doesn’t seem fair that you enter an institution
expecting a certain tuition and it jumps ““ it doesn’t
seem right,” said Sara Jasper, a second-year law student.
When considering graduate school choices, many students consider
cost a factor.
Nathan Lowenstein, a second-year law student, was admitted to
the University of Southern California Law School, which offered him
an annual $10,000 scholarship guaranteed for all three years of
school.
For his first year of law school, UCLA cost $11,000 and USC
would have cost $17,000 with the scholarship. The difference helped
to make his decision clear.
Since attending UCLA and seeing the tuition increase, Lowenstein
is now not as sure.
“Now it’s not so obvious, the total tuition is
actually going to be more expensive,” Lowenstein said.
Concerning funding and recruitment, UCLA is simply not
competitive, said Jim Turner, assistant vice chancellor for the
graduate division.
Such a decline in competitiveness has prompted some to wonder
why students would choose UCLA over institutions that could better
compensate them.
“Why not just go to Stanford; why not Chicago?”
Lowenstein said.
The concern of competitiveness could carry over to other
academic and professional graduate disciplines as well. The fee
increase has multiple consequences on the quality, attractiveness
and reputation of a school.
The fee hike could cause UCLA to lose prospective core students
to other schools that offer scholarships and better support
packages.
Research increasingly shows that money makes a difference in a
student’s decision, and the top students are not coming,
Turner said.
Some students chose to attend UCLA because of lower fees when
they otherwise would have attended more prestigious private
schools.
“Reputation and fees were a factor ““ private schools
would’ve cost more,” said Alison Trumbull, a graduate
student in applied linguistics and teaching English as a second
language.
“The reputation of a school is important to me. The
private sector is getting harder to get into; it’s going to
be substantially harder with more competition," Lowenstein
said.
McKay said another factor harming law students is not having
UCLA be the best law school in Los Angeles.
As for pursuing a further degree at UCLA, Trumbull may think
twice about it because she would have to take out more loans.
UCLA’s graduate program, particularly its doctorate
programs, cannot offer its students the support packages private
institutions offer.
The 40 percent fee increase, on top of a 30 percent increase
from last year ““ an 82 percent fee increase altogether
““ may restrict the funding for graduate student fellowships,
Turner said.
As for the average difference between stipends allotted, UCLA
offers $2,500 less for student stipends than the average private
school. Since the cost of living differs with varying locales,
stipends adjusted accordingly show the difference is closer to
$4,300 for just the first year, Turner said.
While most private institutions can waive students’ fees,
the UC cannot.
“There is already clear evidence that UCLA is not getting
better students because of money,” Turner said.
Law students are not allowed to take jobs at law firms during
their first year. Many vie for summer jobs or internships. Students
see working during school terms as nonfeasible, so most rely on
university loans in addition to private loans.
Lowenstein is fortunate enough to have parents who pay his fees.
He contributes additional funds with money made from summer
internships.
Current university policy mandates that if teaching assistants
are employed at least 25 percent of the time, their student fees
must be paid by the university. Teaching assistants are paid by the
UC, and graduate research assistants are paid by their respective
research employers.
To compensate for funds used to pay this stipend, the UC may
take money that could ordinarily pay for fellowship stipends.
The quality of graduate students are reflected in quality
faculty members.
“Any diminished capacity to recruit the best grad students
would impact ultimately on the faculty here and the quality of TAs
leading undergraduate sections,” Turner said.
Faculty is often more productive with productive graduate
students. In the laboratory sciences in particular, students
contribute greatly to research.
Some express concerns about UCLA’s reputation based on
ratings done by academic organizations.
“If we don’t have good grad students, we will go
down on those ratings,” Turner said.
Students like Trumbull believe it’s a shame that the state
has to cut education on any level.
As for the government’s handling of the budget situation,
some believe there are better approaches.
“I don’t think it’s going to get any better.
The government is gouging our interests,” McKay said, who
added he would rather see the government raise taxes than cut
spending.
“Every extra penny that the government asks from us …
any respective taxpayer could give,” he said.
Though graduate students were generally averse to the fee
increase, they understand the extra burden placed upon them.
“I feel that graduate students are in a position to become
professionals, and are in a better position to pay loans
off,” Trumbull said.