PROPOSED FEE INCREASE STATEMENT
On behalf of the Graduate Student Association Executive Council (GSA-EC), we write in response to the proposed student fee increases and broad changes in the funding structure of the UC that are currently under consideration. The UCD GSA-EC joins the UCLA GSA in not supporting the proposed student fee increases, which we believe negatively impact the University’s teaching and research. We are concerned that, in the haste to respond to the current financial crisis, the University Office of the President and the Regents are implementing large-scale changes that will undermine the primary mission of the University of California and will cause irreparable harm to this great institution. The reasoning for our position is as follows:
1.) Students have not been adequately involved in the discussions regarding fee increases: While we are aware of the concern that the state of California is no longer a reliable partner in funding higher education, we cannot support raising student fees to a level that will inevitably prohibit qualified students from pursuing a higher education; in the past several decades, student fee increases have vastly outpaced consumer price index (CPI) increases. We view the proposed fee increases as a dramatic step that should not be undertaken without an exhaustive effort to find alternative funding sources. It is clear that this funding crisis has been in the making for many years. However, only recently have students, faculty and staff been informed about the severity of this situation, and frequently this information is provided by parties other than the UC Office of the President or Regents. This has left many students reeling at the fears of
the forthcoming debt/job security and owing to the lack of financial transparency, many students wonder in the UC Office of the President and the Regents have the students’ best interests in mind as they face these decisions. We ask that the Regents and the University Office of the President work with, rather than against, the universities’ primary constituents to find a solution to the current situation. We feel that this time of crisis calls for greater transparency and outreach on the part of the university administration in order to ensure that students, faculty, and staff share in the decision making process. The University of California is home to some of the finest minds in the world. We encourage the Regents and the Office of the President not to squander the opportunity to tap into this valuable resource.
2.) Graduate fee increases are cost-prohibitive for graduate students and detrimental to research and education: Graduate students are impacted directly by fee increases. In spring 2009, UCD GSA conducted a survey of graduate students regarding funding and student services usage; over 50% of UC Davis graduate student respondents reported personally paying some fees (education, registration, and/or campus based fees). The proposed fee increases cuts directly into graduate students’ income, which in many cases is being used to support not only that individual, but also families. Furthermore, as departments are concurrently experiencing budgetary reductions and grant money, in some areas, is scarce, many graduate students are unable to find support for teaching and research duties, both of which are essential to the university mission. The income to debt ratio for graduate and professional students is a national problem. Further fee increases for higher education will lead to additional student loans in order to supplement these cost increases. Graduate students contribute significantly to research and instruction at research productivity for projects funded by granting agencies that support graduate student salaries. Additionally, with overall budget cuts throughout campuses, the increased cost to support graduate students will equate to fewer academic student employment opportunities. Departmental funding for Teaching Assistantships, Readerships, Graders, and Researchers will support fewer graduate students.
3.) Fee increases threaten the quality of education: The UC campuses consistently rank highly in nationwide surveys and studies thanks to our emphasis on top quality research and instruction. This is in part due to the historical UC system attention to making the UC education accessible to people from diverse backgrounds. If attending graduate school at a UC becomes unaffordable due to fee increases, public education will be threatened. If the quality of education is reduced, it will be hard for the UCs to compete with other top schools in attracting the top graduate and undergraduate students. Graduate students are affected by broader restructuring of the University in many ways. Fee increases for undergraduates impact graduate education by restricting the pipeline of qualified and diverse undergraduates into graduate school. Private funding in the sciences promotes applied and profitable research rather than the basic research that is fundamental to scientific progress and discovery. Private funding also changes the culture of the academy from one in which mentors collaborate with their students to one in which “primary investigators” direct their employees.
In conclusion, it is our position that graduate students are a valuable part of education and research at UCD and across the UC system. Protecting graduate student education should be an essential priority for the Regents and the Office of the President. The UC system and the State of California benefit far more from affordable, competitive graduate programs capable of attracting the finest students in every field of study than they might ever hope to gain by graduate student fee increases.
The Executive Council of the University of California Davis,
Malaika Singleton, Chair
Karinna Hurley, Vice-Chair
Marrah Lachowicz-Scroggins, External Chair
Erica McKenzie, Treasurer
Trina Filan, Secretary
Adam Costanzo, Campus Organizing Director
Stacey Ellis, Public Relations Officer
Abbie Boggs, Ex Officio to the Executive Council and Graduate Student Assistant to the Dean and
Chancellor
Official document submitted to the Regents 
UCD GSA EC Fee Statement.pdf
GSHIP STATEMENT
On behalf of the Graduate Student Association Executive Council (GSA-EC), we write in response to the proposed vote currently under consideration by the UC Regents to require system-wide healthcare for graduate and professional students within the UC System. The UCD GSA-EC joins the University of California Student Association in supporting the proposed system-wide mandate for health care coverage of graduate and professional students; the reasoning for our position is as follows:
1.) Implementation of a system-wide requirement for health care is the first step to ensuring equality between undergraduate students, who already have such a mandate: In addition to wide-spread support of Federal and State health care reform, we support the University of California mandate to require graduate student health insurance (GSHIP) for graduate and professional students across the UC system. Unlike undergraduates, very few graduate students receive healthcare benefits via their parents. Graduate-professional students’ service to the University as researchers and educators must be supported with basic yet essential benefit. A student’s status as an “employee” with traditional healthcare benefits is ambiguous and changeable. U.S. universities are losing their ability to attract the best students due in part to the lack of affordable health care coverage. The UC System should forge forward ensuring graduate and professional students receive affordable quality healthcare.
2.) The University of California Davis supports any efforts to reach more affordable health care ultimately leading to enhanced benefits that meet the unique needs of graduate and professional students, such as dependent coverage: With the average age of a PhD recipient at 33 and increasing (American Association of University Professors) more graduate students than ever have families. Recently, Graduate Studies at the University of California Davis completed a doctoral survey of all Ph.D. students with the division of Outreach, Recruitment and Retention. Of the 1753 respondents (out of 1827) who answered the survey question about dependents living with them, 24.75% (434 students) reported having one or more dependents, either child or adult. As the response rate to the survey was 52%, it seems likely that approximately double that number, or close to 900, of UCD doctoral students would have either child or adult dependents. The enrollment at the time of the survey launch was 4180, therefore we approximate that at least 25% or more of our students have dependents. We did not ask in the survey the status or nature of the adult dependent, but assume that the vast majority of these would be a spouse or domestic partner who does not have his/her own health insurance from some other source. Only a tiny percentage (1%) indicated having two or more adult dependents living with them, suggesting a parent or (presumably) other adult relative. The lack of family coverage unfairly penalizes graduate and professional students who have children or dependents. Pursuit of a graduate education and family should not be mutually exclusive. Addition of healthcare benefits for dependents makes the UC system more competitive in attracting the best talent available. We would like to stress that streamlining the healthcare in our system is imperative to reaching the needs of our graduate students. We are looking to the Regents and the University Office of the President to take the lead and continue to support GSHIP reform for the UC System.
The Executive Council of the University of California Davis,
Malaika Singleton, Chair
Karinna Hurley, Vice-Chair
Erica McKenzie, Treasurer
Trina Filan, Secretary
Stacey Ellis, Public Relations Officer
Marrah Lachowicz-Scroggins, External Chair
dam Costanzo, Campus Organizing Director
Abbie Boggs, GSADC
Official document submitted to the Regents GSHIP Statement.pdf
