Ohio University President Duane Nellis announced Friday that the university will increase support to graduate student assistants by raising health insurance subsidies and minimum stipends.
Currently, the university subsidizes about 4 percent, or $40, of graduate employee health insurance, which costs $2,148 per semester. Only students who purchase the university healthcare policy will be eligible for the subsidy. Beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, Nellis said that number would increase to 13.2 percent, or $142 per semester, according to a news release.
Instead of offering the subsidy to all graduate students, the university will only offer it to students on the student health care plan. To compensate, OU will increase the general fee waiver by $40 to $174 per semester.
"Providing the additional means of support will keep Ohio University competitive in attracting high-caliber students, and it highlights another successful example of our shared governance structure and its ability to enact meaningful change," Nellis wrote in a news release.
The minimum stipend for graduate assistants is $12 per hour for students who work at least 15 hours a week. The university will increase the minimum amount to $13 per hour. Nellis also described 57 "grandfathered exceptions" that allowed some graduate students to receive less than $12 per hour in certain roles. Beginning Fall Semester, those exceptions would be eliminated and the minimum hourly rate would be enforced in all roles in which grad students work 15 hours per week or more.
Nellis thanked Graduate Student Senate President Maria Modayil for her efforts toward highlighting the needs of graduate students.
"This whole package is several hundred thousand dollars, and we're investing during a very difficult budget time, but we're making this a priority," Nellis said.
Nellis also announced two new graduate student awards that will be presented during next year's Graduate-Professional Student Appreciation Week. Those awards will be presented to a master's student and a doctoral student.
The awards will include a one-time award of $1,000, according to a news release. More information, including criteria and application timeline, will be announced in the fall.
"As graduate students, who work hard to enhance the academic and research mission of this university while juggling the program-specific coursework, we are grateful for the investment the university is committing to ease our financial liability," Modayil wrote in the news release.
