Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thank you for reporting on graduate teaching assistant position cuts. There are additional aspects to this issue that should be addressed.
No figures for the number of GTA positions that have been effectively eliminated by hiring undergraduate teaching assistants have been published. By replacing GTAs with undergraduate teacher’s assistants, the University of Kansas saves money as the UGTAs do not receive a tuition stipend, nor does the University pay 75 percent of the student’s health insurance fee every semester. A GTA with a 50 percent appointment could be paid as much as $8,000 per semester in some departments, but a UGTA will earn $3,000 for the exact same teaching assignment. This savings amounts to $5,000 per semester, per GTA position replaced with an UGTA. The savings is doubled when tuition waivers and health insurance assistance are included.
Thus, the University can enroll the same number of students, in the same number of sections, but save as much as $20,000 per year, per position, by replacing GTAs with UGTAs. The ramifications of this mistake are grave and pervasive.
Fewer GTA positions further strain the research coffers as professors desperately try to keep their students in the lab, field, hall and library so their important research will continue. Fewer materials, tools, instruments and consumables must be purchased as we scale our projects to the funding levels that are available. We go into survival mode instead of research mode.
The article also mentioned graduate research assistant positions, but I am compelled to offer a significant correction.
GRAs do not receive the same benefits at GTAs. They often earn less money, are not represented by the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition and have no guarantees regarding health insurance, tuition or pay.
Graduate students are the workhorses at the University and can be found working on campus at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday. I implore any decision maker at the University to show their dedication to research by striving to save any additional GTA or GRA positions on the table at this time, and make plans to restore positions currently lost to graduate students. I welcome Dr. Gray-Little to our University and hope that under her leadership, the University will once again show its dedication to research and academic excellence.
— — Melinda L Toumi is a Ph.D. candidate from Tonganoxie
Budget cuts decrease number of GTAs, increases ...
Fewer GTAs may affect class dynamics, GTA position renewal and research at ...
Editorial Board: 10-semester limit puts too much ...
KU administration changes length of GTA appointments
University officials will allow a 12-semester limit on GTA appointments starting in ...
Contract impact
GTAs not satisfied with health insurance
KU agrees to raise GTA salaries
KU depends on outside arbiter’s opinion before making changes. Arbiter advises limited ...
Editorial Board: University and GTAC should work ...
Letter to the Editor: Ten-semester limit makes ...
Health care could affect student insurance
The new bill could allow some students to stay on their parent’s ...
KU launches revised student health insurance plan
KU health officials say a new insurance plan will offer benefits for ...
Regents approve tuition hike, technology fee
State now pays less for education than the University's students.
Leaving a lasting legacy
As Hemenway prepares to retire, he and others look back at how ...
KU proposes tuition increase for 2010-2011 school ...
About 45 percent of students will see no increase in tuition rates.
Salary dispute between GTAs, University settled
GTAs receive an 11.3 percent raise.
‘Generation Debt’ afflicting students
KU students are finding it difficult to foot the bill of increasing ...
Relocated offices crowd GTAs; new locations confuse ...
Accreditors weigh student, faculty suggestions
Departments feel the pinch of budget cuts
Groups around campus rely on different solutions for budget woes.
Grad life: Getting to know two graduate ...
Two graduate students shed light on the pressures of pursuing a master's, ...
Members of the Kansas Board of Regents ...
Freshmen tuition increased 5.8 percent from last year.
Program helps students pay and prepare for ...
GEAR UP, a Kansas City, Kan., program, helps tutor and mentor high ...
Students struggle to raise grades
Freshmen seeing impact of poor performance during first college semester
Tuition bills increase; wallets shrink
Regents may revise student health insurance
A new health insurance plan from the Board of Regents would decrease ...
Balancing act
Students prove that attending class and working a job on the side ...
Graduates gamble on health insurance
One third of college graduates are uninsured after graduation; experts advise being ...
Regents provide far more for far less
The Board of Regents has dramatically increased the available insurance coverage for ...
Tuition increase coming this fall
Kansas Board of Regents approved a state-wide increase on public university tuition.
Folmsbee: Undergraduate research needs change
Viewing research as purely a resume-builder is an opportunity missed.
Kemper awards presented to 20 professors
Instructors recognized for teaching and advising excellence with $5,000 W.T. Kemper Fellowships
Hemenway stays with University
Kansas University Endowment Association provides funding for former chancellor to take sabbatical, ...
Editorial: Senate redress evaluated
Student senators at The University of Kansas receive 15 in-state credis per ...
Student's desire to teach put on hold
A lack of funding and available positions limit graduate teaching positions.
Editorial: State budget freeze raises concerns
Gov. Mark Parkinson needs to keep his promise and stop cut higher ...
Degrees of success: athletes after college
College athletes' payment is their degree. But what if they never get ...
Education students under pressure as teaching program ...
Because two teaching classes were admitted in the same school year, 120 ...
Students juggle work and class schedules
Increasingly, students find they must work long hours and try to make ...
Donation boosts study abroad program
A donation from Larry and Donna Horner will raise the maximum scholarship ...
Insurance essential but often unaffordable
Students without health coverage hope for changes in policy.
Budget cuts hinder academic programs
Reduced course offerings make it tougher for students to graduate on time.
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID