Graduate students in the School of Arts and Sciences will receive stipends next year of $18,300 - an increase from the current $18,000, but the lowest figure in the Ivy League.
And graduate student groups are none too happy.
"Once you take inflation out of the picture and you see what remains left of the increase, then you can see that there actually has been no increase at all," said third-year SAS student Lucas Champollion.
Champllion was involved in compiling a Graduate Student Associations Council report that analyzed graduate stipends.
The report compared Penn's stipend increase to increases over the past decade, as well as how rent and cost-of-living increases in West Philadelphia can eat up the small stipend raise.
"In order for the University to attract the best Ph.D. student candidates, it needs to offer them competitive stipends," Champollion said.
GSAC took up the stipend issue after hearing concerns from representatives, and the group has sent its report to the SAS Graduate Division for consideration.
"It's a natural thing that GSAC would take on funding issues for Ph.D. students," fourth year School of Education student and GSAC President Cassondra Giombetti said.
Vice President for SAS Affairs Leslie Warden agreed about the relevance of the issue, saying that, while GSAC is not proposing any specific solutions, it is certainly something they are concerned about and will bring to the administration.
"We've developed an official position of 'We're working on it and it's important to us,'" she said.
And students aren't the only ones speaking out about stipend-related issues.
"When Amy Gutmann came in as president and one of the first things she did was to raise the stipend to make us competitive, we were thrilled," said English department graduate chairwoman Amy Kaplan.
"This is kind of a downer - to do that once and not to keep it up sends a slightly demoralizing message both to students and faculty," Kaplan said, also pointing out that money can factor into a student's decision process once they receive their acceptances.
"Most of the students who told me they were not coming here and they were going to other Ivy League schools mentioned that money was a problem," she said.
On the administrative end, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Jack Nagel received GSAC's report and responded to some of the group's questions, citing SAS budget issues and increasing health premiums for graduate students as some of the reasons for lower stipends.
"The school is not singling out grad students for sacrifice," Nagel said. "We are subjecting all major expenditure categories, including faculty and staff salaries, to comparable stringency."
Nagel has a meeting set up with the officers of SASgov, the SAS-specific student government body that will replace GSAC next year, to discuss the issue.
In the meantime, the issue won't be undermined just because students may be away for the summer.
"It's not going to fall between the cracks because we're in the middle of a transition," Giombetti said. "We just don't let stuff like this go away."
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.