March 4, 2014
(Last update: 03/05/14)
Handouts of the Graduate Faculty
Council
Revised proposal to enable students in “Research-only” mode to take courses at a reduced
rate
Background: In February 2013, Peter Moran (Materials Science) presented a proposal whose
goal was to enable students in what is now termed “research-only mode” to take a limited
number of classes. The proposal and its rationale may be found in the Handouts for March 2013
in the GFC archive. The original proposal suggested that the costs for registering for these
courses be spread over the entire pool of “research-only mode” students by increasing the cost
per term of this mode by $50. While there was support for the idea of enabling students to take
courses even once they are focusing primarily on their research, there was dissatisfaction with
the idea of having all students pay for the actions taken by only some students. Alternative
suggestions were also viewed as not being “revenue neutral”. In September 2013, a
subcommittee was charged with reviewing the proposal and searching for an approach that is
both equitable and “revenue neutral”. This subcommittee met, and proffers the revised
procedure described below.
Current situation: Graduate students who have passed all required course work and (doctoral
students only) who have passed their qualifying exam and proposal defense are eligible to enroll
in “research-only mode”. This tuition category allows them to enroll full time (9 credits) but pay
1/3 the standard tuition rate for those 9 credits (i.e., pay for the equivalent of 3 credits at the
standard rate). If they wish to take courses, they can either exit research-only mode and pay the
standard tuition rate for all credits (research and courses) or remain in research-only mode
(paying for 3 credits) and take additional credits for the standard rate. If a student took the latter
route and enrolled in one 3-credit course, they would pay for the equivalent of 6 credits at the
standard rate.
Revised proposal: In addition to the above “research-only mode”, an additional mode would be
created that would enable graduate students who have passed all required course work and
(doctoral students only) who have passed their qualifying exam and proposal defense to enroll in
“research-intensive mode” for up to two terms. In this mode, students would register for six (6)
credits of research at 1/3 the standard tuition rate and three (3) course credits at the standard
tuition rate (i.e., pay for the equivalent of 5 credits at the standard tuition rate). Compared to the
present situation, this scheme reduces by 1/6 the cost to the student/researcher for taking up to
six credits of courses. The revenue-neutrality of this scheme can only be assessed once it is
known how the number of students eligible for research-only mode but who take courses is
changed. (If that number does not change, the scheme would cost the university; if the number
increases sufficiently, the university could generate additional revenue). Accordingly, we
suggest that the plan be evaluated after two years to assess the revenue impacts as well as the
degree to which the plan satisfies the desire for advanced graduate students to enroll in courses
without a cost penalty.
Minutes from previous discussions are available below.
Data summary
Data based on 134 PhD students in Research Only Mode (ROM) as of January 23, 2014. As of
that date, no MS students are in ROM.
Table 1. Students in ROM by school or college.
School or College
Number
College of Engineering
73
College of Sciences and Arts
39
Non-departmental programs
15
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
7
Table 2. Students in ROM by program.
Graduate Program
Number
Atmospheric Sciences
5
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
1
Biological Sciences
2
Biomedical Engineering
7
Chemical Engineering
18
Chemistry
8
Civil Engineering
6
Computer Science
7
Electrical Engineering
8
Engineering Physics
4
Environmental and Energy Policy
2
Environmental Engineering
9
Forest Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
1
Forest Science
6
Geological Engineering
1
Geology
6
Industrial Heritage and Archaeology
1
Materials Science and Engineering
11
Mathematical Sciences
1
Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
16
Physics
7
Rhetoric and Technical Communication
7
Table 3. Terms enrolled and credits attempted statistics.
Minimum Maximum Median
Total number of terms enrolled
3
24
10
Number of terms prior to ROM
2
19
8
Terms in ROM (through fall 2008)
0
9
1
Total number of credits attempted
27
165
75.5
Credits attempted before ROM
18
130
57
Credits attempted in ROM
0
65
9.5
Mean
10.4
8.2
2.2
75.3
58.4
17.0
ROM – Data summary
January 30, 2014
Page 2 of 3
St. Dev.
3.7
3.4
2.1
24.5
23.2
15.2
35
Number of Students
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12 13-14 15-16
Number of Semesters Prior to Entering ROM
17-18
19-20
Figure 1. Histogram of the number of semesters students were enrolled prior to entering ROM.
ROM – Data summary
Page 3 of 3
January 30, 2014