Ohio State administrators announced Friday they would be increasing compensation for graduate associates, fellows and trainees over the next two academic years. Ohio State will increase the minimum monthly stipend from $900 a mont,h to $1,000 a month, and will increase the health care subsidy from the current 42 percent rate to 64 percent in the 2004-2005 academic year and 75 percent in 2005-2006.
This is a good start for Ohio State in improving the way it funds graduate associates, but still more can be done to improve graduate student funding. Even when Ohio State subsidizes 75 percent of health care costs in 2005-2006, it will still lag behind other Big Ten schools in health care subsidization. The universities of Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana cover 100 percent of their graduate assistants' student health care insurance. All other Big Ten schools cover at least 80 percent of the cost of insurance.
More importantly, this plan is only slated to be in place for two years. Nothing is stopping the university from maintaining or even lowering the new levels of graduate associate funding in 2006-2007. Both the Council of Graduate Students and the Graduate Employees and Students Organization have expressed a desire for full subsidization of health care. GESO said it wanted full coverage by 2005, while CGS wanted it within the next five years.
In addition, J. Briggs Cormier of the Ad Hoc Graduate Compensation and Benefits committee said CGS had previously asked for a larger increase in the stipend. The council wanted a minimum stipend of $1,200 a month. Ohio State needs to continue working towards improving its graduate students' financial health, by continuing to increase monthly stipends toward a more livable wage and by working towards fully funding its graduate associates' health care within the next two to five years.
Fully funding health care is an essential part of Ohio State's development into a research university powerhouse. Full coverage would help show potential graduate students that Ohio State is serious about treating its graduate students well and would help maintain and attract high quality graduate students.
Not only will this get the best minds at Ohio State for research, but it will also improve the quality of classes taught by TAs throughout the university. Ohio State should make a commitment to graduate students, as well as its attempts to boost its research standings, and implement bigger stipends and full health care insurance for its graduate associates.
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