Tufts' Ph.D. students will be receiving increased stipends via a $1 million initiative from the Office of the University's Provost, which the administration hopes will increase Tufts' competitiveness and make significant improvements to the quality of student life.
Despite this optimism, life as a Ph.D. student at Tufts still has its share of difficulties. Of particular concern are stipends for humanities students, whose compensation, like that of their faculty counterparts, is lagging behind that of their peers in the hard and social sciences.
Members of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) herald the initiative as a sign of a major watershed in the administration's attitude toward Ph.D. students, as it is an increasing priority
"This whole initiative is emblematic of the way in which the administration is interacting with the graduate student population," David Proctor, an interdisciplinary Ph.D. candidate and GSC treasurer said.
"Ten to 15 years ago, this would not have happened," he said. "[The administration] is very concerned with student input."
The diverse Ph.D. student population is spread across the University's network of schools and departments from English to engineering to disciplines within the Fletcher School.
In general, each Ph.D. student completes coursework and a dissertation - an in-depth piece of original research - while often teaching basic classes or serving as teaching or research assistants.
Depending upon the funds available and the pace of their own research, completion of the degree can take three to 10 years.
Tufts does have significant draws for its Ph.D. candidates. "The perks are that this is a small department located in a large academic center," Jocelyn Muller, a Ph.D. candidate in the Biology Department, said. "I have the joy of knowing all the professors in the department personally and benefiting from an integrated department, and having at hand the larger source of literature and research that is happening here and nearby."
Angie Warner, the Associate Dean of Students at Tufts' School of Veterinary Medicine, said that the quality and availability of research training in infectious disease is a strong point of the Vet School's Ph.D. program.
Director of Student Services at the Fletcher School, Jennifer Burckett-Picker said the Tufts community also makes a difference.
"We have a very active community here, real sense of community which sets [Tufts] apart," she said.
Proctor said it was very difficult to put a hard figure on the number of Ph.D. candidates at Tufts because enrollment fluctuates year to year. Some Ph.D. students do not stay for the tenure of the program, he said, and some students take part in Masters and Ph.D. programs where they are first classified as one degree, then the other.
Stipends are being re-calculated for the 12 Arts and Sciences departments that host Ph.D. students as well as other doctoral programs throughout the University, including the Vet School, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the various Medical School campuses in order to optimize the attractiveness of Tufts' departments to prospective students.
"In some departments, we are significantly below the average [stipend] of our peer institutions," University Provost Jamshed Bharucha said. "We have strong programs, but you can't be competitive without offering the appropriate financial package."
The trade-off from the competitiveness calculations, however, yielded a payment scale that mirrored the skew of national averages. These national averages allot less to humanities students than to their science or social science counterparts.
"When I look at the housing options, stipends, and benefits that many of my peers have through their schools, it is difficult to remember those reasons I chose Tufts," Muller said.
According to English Ph.D. candidate Kimberly Hebert, however, student compensation has come a long way since the early 90's, when stipends for the English program hovered around $6,000.
Although additional money will certainly help, some still question whether the increases will be adequate.
Even with substantial increases, some Ph.D. students could still fall below the poverty line. "Graduate students are paid at or below the poverty level, meaning everything is a pressing financial issue," Muller said. "Most students are independent of their family and are responsible for rent, food and insurance."
The Federal Poverty Line for one person in 2004 was $9,310, according to the U.S. Department of Human Services Website - but comes nowhere close to fulfilling need in Massachusetts, where the cost of living is considerably higher.
The Massachusetts Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Project created a regionally-specialized estimate for the cost of living in Mass., resulting in a number that is adequate but "not luxurious or even comfortable."
This level, from 2004 figures, is estimated at $24,059 for Somerville and for $24,110 for Medford - which, according to student interviews, is significantly more than most graduate student stipends, particularly in the humanities.
The deans of the various schools did not release figures for current Ph.D. stipends, and Ph.D. stipends were not disaggregated from general graduate stipends in a national survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Other critical expenses for Ph.D. students include health care, as well as food, clothing and other amenities.
"We need to get to a place where all people who work for the University for a significant period of time are able to have health care [and able] to live above the poverty line in the Boston area," English Ph.D. candidate Joe Ramsey said. "[The initiative] may get a number of Ph.D. students over that line, but with benefits persist."
Proctor said that while shortcomings may exist, health care for graduate students has been improving - the existing insurance plan in particular. "Health Services has been receptive to the many graduate concerns and quite successful in implementing change," he said.
GSC president Amanda Pavlick said that the GSC is also working on other areas of student well-being, principally rolling the basic health fee for Master's students into tuition scholarships, which they currently pay out of their own pockets.
For Ph.D. students, the fee of $540 has already been rolled into tuition scholarships, Pavlick said. Tufts' student health plan, estimated at $1,177, represents an additional expense.
Bharucha recognized that the initiative would not be a panacea for problems among graduate students, and recognized that for Master's students, housing and health care needed further attention.
"We are committed to additional financial support for undergraduate and graduate students, but we can only do one thing at a time," Bharucha said.
Tufts is one of many universities nationwide grappling with financing doctoral education.
"In some field areas such as the social sciences and humanities, the lack of comparable funding opportunities may discourage some very talented students from pursuing doctoral degrees," said Daniel Deneke, Director of Best Practices at the Council of Graduate Schools, a Washington, D.C.-based policy organization focused on promoting the interests of graduate students.
Previously, unionization was the flash point for graduate student well-being, an approach that Ramsey asserted could be helpful. "Places with graduate unions continue to have a markedly better economic situation than those who don't," he said.
This outlet's possibilities have significantly waned, however, after a vote on unionization was impounded by the Tufts administration and a National Labor Relations Board ruling this summer effectively denied graduate students legal legitimacy to unionize.
Whether they hope for unionization or not, many graduate students are optimistic about institutionally supported change.
"[The administration] told us that they wanted to give us as much as they can, as soon as they can," Pavlick said. "It's a step in the right direction."
