Tuition Waivers

[jdub27]

2 hours ago, NDSU grad said:

In part by having graduate students do research and teaching assistantships.  The monetary value of that work could be upwards of $30,000-40,000/year per student.  My research assistantship at Iowa State required me to work 20 hours/week in my major adviser's lab, which was a joke since it was usually 30+ hours a week.  Using Iowa State wages, my major adviser would have had to pay somebody about $45,000-$50,000 per year for that work.

So NDSU needs to give away full tuition waivers to 1,000+ grad students to teach and apply for mainly non-competitive grants (which are apparently dwindling per the updated Carnegie rankings)? Even if you pull out the $9 million plus that represents, NDSU would still give out more tuition waivers than UND.

[jdub27]

One other thing in regards to schools "making a fortune" off tuition waivers: the state funding formula doesn't make any differentiation on how much a student pays (or doesn't pay) in tuition so NDSU gets full allocation for the students paying nothing, giving them all the more reason to inflate their enrollment (particularly in grad students, which are worth more) through tuition waivers and collect more tax dollars. 

[Milford torgerson]

4 hours ago, NDSU grad said:

Schools can make a fortune off tuition waivers.  You have to remember, these students are still paying tuition, just not the full amount.  NDSU waived about 9.2 million dollars more in tuition than UND.  However, NDSU received about 5.4 million dollars in tuition dollars than UND from those students receiving waivers, about 3.8 million more in room and board dollars than UND, and about 1.2 million more dollars in student fees than UND. It's also important to note often these students aren't just getting free money.  They're serving as research or teaching assistants in return for partial or full reimbursement of tuition. 

 

tell us which time period these numbers come from

[UNDBIZ]

2 minutes ago, Milford torgerson said:

tell us which time period these numbers come from

They're from the 2014-15 academic year. When you give tuition waivers to nearly twice as many students, you're going to get more fee and housing revenue. Doesn't change the fact they're placing their share of costs on local students (who pay tuition, fees, and housing) and the state taxpayers by not charging these students tuition. 

[Siouxperman8]

6 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

A lot of Indian, Chinese, and Arab students in the US with STEM backgrounds get green cards.   Microsoft and Google have a major influence on our immigration policies.

Used to joke back when Iran overthrew the Shah that all the Iranian engineering students would find jobs in the Iranian nuclear arms program.  

That is not my experience in the Twin Cities. I work for a large engineering company and we stopped sponsoring non-US citizens for positions about 15 years ago.  After 2-3 years their H-1B visas expire and they have a hard time staying in the US.  It is a lot of work to justify keeping them in the US and quite often it is denied.  

Prior to signing them up for an interview we ask - "do you have an unrestricted right to work in the US long term?".  If the answer is no we tell them we have chosen to not sponsor foreign nationals for work visas at this time.  

[bison73]

1 hour ago, Siouxperman8 said:

That is not my experience in the Twin Cities. I work for a large engineering company and we stopped sponsoring non-US citizens for positions about 15 years ago.  After 2-3 years their H-1B visas expire and they have a hard time staying in the US.  It is a lot of work to justify keeping them in the US and quite often it is denied.  

Prior to signing them up for an interview we ask - "do you have an unrestricted right to work in the US long term?".  If the answer is no we tell them we have chosen to not sponsor foreign nationals for work visas at this time.  

Im not versed in this subject and I always wondered how this works. Your companies position Seems reasonable to me.

[NDSU grad]

11 hours ago, UNDBIZ said:

They're from the 2014-15 academic year. When you give tuition waivers to nearly twice as many students, you're going to get more fee and housing revenue. Doesn't change the fact they're placing their share of costs on local students (who pay tuition, fees, and housing) and the state taxpayers by not charging these students tuition. 

How so?  Grad students really don't place any burden on the infrastructure of the college.  The only cost one could argue is opportunity cost, but that's  not really appropriate since these students wouldn't be here without the tuition waivers.  Additional faculty doesn't have to be hired, they're occupying lab and office space already available, and usually live off-campus.  And if they do live on-campus, that's actually a benefit to the university, since dorm construction expense can be bonded and actually provide a profit to the university.

[NDSU grad]

13 hours ago, jdub27 said:

So NDSU needs to give away full tuition waivers to 1,000+ grad students to teach and apply for mainly non-competitive grants (which are apparently dwindling per the updated Carnegie rankings)? Even if you pull out the $9 million plus that represents, NDSU would still give out more tuition waivers than UND.

I can really only speak for grad students in STEM fields.  I've never heard of a graduate student in these fields paying tuition, unless it's changed in the 10+ years since I've been in grad school.  Whether the grad student is actually applying for the grant or not depends on the quality of the student.  Generally, they're working for their major adviser, who has applied for the grant.  Often times, the university will waive tuition, and the graduate student's stipend will come from the grant money their major adviser receives.  

Also, total research dollars has grown at NDSU year over year.  It's the proportion of competitive vs. non-competitive grants that must change if NDSU really wants to be know as a high quality research university.  With federal grant dollars, the university basically receives "bonus" money on top of the actual grant.  For instance, when I was at Iowa State an NSF grant resulted in a 46% "bonus" on top of the grant.  So if a professor secured a $1,000,000 NSF grant over 5 years the university received an additional $460,000 they could use however they saw fit.  At ISU, I believe the university received 5%, the college receive ~10%, the department received the lion's share, about 60%, and the rest went to individual or individuals applying for the grant.  They could use that money for computers or other technology for line items not specifically covered in the grant, or could pocket it as a bonus.  This is why federal research grants are so coveted.

[UNDBIZ]

5 minutes ago, NDSU grad said:

How so?  Grad students really don't place any burden on the infrastructure of the college.  The only cost one could argue is opportunity cost, but that's  not really appropriate since these students wouldn't be here without the tuition waivers.  Additional faculty doesn't have to be hired, they're occupying lab and office space already available, and usually live off-campus.  And if they do live on-campus, that's actually a benefit to the university, since dorm construction expense can be bonded and actually provide a profit to the university.

Additional student support services staff, student financial services staff, faculty (whether you believe they have to be hired or not, they are being hired), maintenance staff, custodial staff, office/work space for all those employees, classrooms, labs, student activity space, additional transportation services, etc.  When 5 students are added, you're right, it's not a big deal as fixed costs won't change and variable costs are negligible.  When 1,500 students are added, it becomes an issue, especially when they aren't paying tuition.