The UW-Madison Teaching Assistants' Association vigorously opposes a new graduate assistant tuition remission plan set for implementation in January. TAA estimates hundreds of graduate assistant positions will be lost—an outcome disputed by the university administration.
TAA's resistance to adopting the new plan—a resistance that seems attractive at first—is not, upon further consideration, in the best interests of the entire university.
According to the new arrangement, departments or grants that employ project assistants and research assistants will pay the university $4,000 per graduate assistant per term to compensate for tuition remission granted by the university, which is basically a discount on tuition.
Additionally, professional students will no longer be eligible for graduate assistantships and the tuition remission perk. The new plan supersedes the current scheme, which assesses a charge equal to 25 percent of the assistant's stipend in exchange for tuition remission.
Under the current system, a 33 percent PA appointment—the minimum for which tuition remission is granted—is charged a tuition remission fee of approximately $1,000 per term. A 50 percent PA appointment is charged approximately $1,500. Some appointments are exempt from the charge.
According to the administration, the existing formula has created an increasing budget shortfall and must be changed.
Over the years, the amount of revenue budgeted has increased dramatically, reflecting increasing tuition rates as well as large numbers of non-resident graduate students. At the same time, the revenue from compensatory payments has not kept up.
Until now, the university has covered the gap between projected tuition revenue and compensatory payments with a ""capital exercise"" fund originally allocated for faculty retention and start-up facilities for new faculty.
In 2000, approximately 25 percent of this fund went to cover the tuition remission gap. In 2006, the figure rose to 60 percent. At the current rate, the university fears the money will dry up.
The capital exercise fund represents the university's war chest for developing and maintaining a top-ranked faculty. With recent passage of the marriage amendment and continued budget restrictions, the university cannot afford to hurt its competitiveness even further by depleting this fund.
The new tuition remission plan is based on recommendations by a faculty committee that studied the problem for months. The complex plan eliminates inconsistencies, tuition remission for professional students and even includes provisions for temporarily eliminating or reducing the tuition remission fee for certain university divisions unable to pay it.
Any solution to the tuition remission shortfall is imperfect. However, the committee's proposal reflects the broad interests of the university—not just the interests of graduate assistants—while giving the university breathing room to find a better long-term solution.
