Budget cuts decrease number of GTAs, increases class sizes

By Justin Hilley

Sunday, July 12, 2009

William Price said he felt “lucky” to be a graduate teaching assistant in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Price, Stillwater, Okla., doctoral student, was a graduate student in Oklahoma State University’s geography program last year. He was in the physical geography basement at OSU when he received an e-mail from a graduate advisor in the University’s geography program. It notified him that he had not only been accepted to its doctoral program, but had been offered a GTA position for the fall of 2008. It was one of four programs he had applied to.

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A University plan to cut the number of GTA jobs could hurt classrooms where small class sizes are important, such as music classes.

A University plan to cut the number of GTA jobs could hurt classrooms where small class sizes are important, such as music classes.

As a GTA, his tuition would be waived, he would receive a salary and he would be able to work and teach in an environment conducive to his goal of becoming a geography professor.

“I called my mom at the house and I called my dad at work just to say I had got in and I got a GTA position. I was very, very happy,” Price said.

Price said that it was an “easy choice” to come to the University after he received the GTA offer, and that if he had not received it, he would have had to take closer look at the other schools.

Because of increasing tuition, many students’ decision to attend graduate school rests solely on whether they can obtain a GTA position. It is a role that allows students to pursue graduate studies without the pressure of paying tuition. It also provides enough income to afford housing and food.

The University announced Wednesday that because of a $32.3 million, or 12 percent, loss in state funding, there will be 121 fewer positions on the Lawrence campus this fall. There will be 55 fewer faculty members and a reduction in the number of GTAs. The college alone will have 25 fewer GTAs and will offer about 75 fewer class sections.

“My first reaction is shock,” Price said. “That seems to be hurting everything across the board.”

The reduction in GTAs next year could affect class dynamics, the chances of GTA positions being renewed and the health of the University’s research mission.

CLASS DYNAMICS

According to a University press release, as a result of the loss of GTAS, some students may have difficulty enrolling in specific classes needed to meet degree requirements. This could increase the amount time it takes some students to graduate and reduce retention. The press release stated another “negative effect” of the dwindling GTA numbers would be larger class sizes.

Greg Simpson, interim dean of the college, said in an e-mail that in the future, the college would try to restore the lost GTA positions, but that it would not help this year’s or next year’s undergraduates.

“In particularly desperate situations, we might be able to hire lecturers to help with the teaching of a course here and there, but that’s only a partial solution and a very temporary one,” Simpson said. “It does nothing to enhance the strength of our graduate programs. There’s no getting around that these losses will be painful.”

Price will be a graduate research assistant this fall, which comes with the same financial benefits as a GTA. He said he knew the effects larger class sizes would have in the college on both the student and teacher.

“I never realized this when I was an undergrad, but I do think you learn a lot more from discussion-type courses where you ask the students questions and they ask you questions, and you can actually get a discussion going amongst the students. But when you have a really big class size, you can’t do that,” Price said.

ANNUAL RENEWALS

The number of GTA positions available depends on the size of a department’s GTA budget. Positions are up for renewal each year, so a graduate student who was a GTA last year may not be able to afford tuition in the upcoming year if not reappointed.

Adriane Jewett, Longview, Texas graduate student, earned her bachelor’s degree in 2005. After working in marketing and design for a software company, she decided to go back to school. She said one of her stipulations for returning to school was to not take out any loans because of the debt she still had from her undergraduate education. After Jewett was accepted to the University, she was offered a GTA position to keep her here.

Jewett said that if she had lost her GTA position, she would have had to leave the University.

“I probably would have gone back to work and either tried to save up money to come back later or reapply at some point and see if I could have gotten it back when the budget crisis wasn’t as bad,” Jewett said.

Lindsey Ott, Mulvane graduate student, said that her GTA position was guaranteed the first year, but that afterward she would have to find her own funding. She was able to obtain a position as a GRA in the fall.

Ott said that if her tuition was not waived, it would not be possible for her to attend graduate school because of the debt she still had from her days as an undergraduate.

“Having to pay for grad school, too, just makes it more of a burden,” Ott said.

Simpson said incoming graduate students in the college who had their positions promised to them would retain their positions. At the time departments were accepting students, they knew they had fewer funds and adjusted their initial assignments accordingly.

UNIVERSAL MISSION

Mary Huntimer, Watertown, S.D., doctoral student, is a GTA in the School of Music.

Huntimer said that being a GTA exposed her to a variety of students with different learning styles, which forced her to be creative when she taught. She said she wanted to teach saxophone at the collegiate level after she earned her doctoral of musical arts degree, and that it would be “almost impossible” to find a teaching position at that level without being a GTA.

GTAs perform several functions in the school, including providing individual music lessons to undergraduates and helping direct the University’s band program.

“The School of Music would not run if it wasn’t for the GTAs,” Huntimer said.

Simpson said graduate education was the backbone of the research mission of a university, and that graduate students were intimately involved in the generation of new knowledge that characterized a research university.

“Most of the funding for these students comes from GTA positions. Without GTAs, there is no graduate program, and the University would suffer irreparably,” Simpson said.

Huntimer said the GTA cuts were simply a sign of the times.

Price said that he was not sure if any positions were cut in the department of geography, but that as an undergraduate he had a lot of outstanding GTAs. He said although many GTAs, including himself, could not match the depth of a professor’s experience, he had had professors who viewed teaching as an “annoyance” and who would rather be in a lab doing research.

“A lot of the times the GTAs were the better ones,” Price said. “They know their subjects. They still have a lot of enthusiasm and passion of what they’re doing, whereas sometimes some of the professors who have been teaching a course for 20 years are just going through the motions.”

Ott said she also felt “lucky” to have her position.

“I just really like helping students and making it so that they can understand the subjects that I struggled with as an undergrad, and so I can be there to help them out,” Ott said.

— — Edited by Annie Vangsnes

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