harvard, Yale up grad funds

Both Harvard and Yale universities announced last week that they will increase spending on graduate student financial aid packages next year -- a move which Penn administrators admit raises some concerns.

Last Monday, Jeremy Knowles, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean, announced that $4 million more will be spent on graduate aid next year. And the following day, Yale Graduate School Dean Susan Hockfield announced that stipends for its doctoral students would be raised to $15,000 next year, a $1,300 increase.

Deputy Provost Peter Conn said that Penn is always concerned about the levels of funding offered to students at peer institutions, but he believes that despite the generous increases at Yale and Harvard, Penn remains competitive.

"We have also made substantial improvements in our graduate funding packages over the past couple of years, and fellowship stipends at Penn remain competitive with those of these and our other peer institutions," Conn said in an e-mail statement.

Last March, Penn announced it would spend between $2 and $3 million to increase support for graduate students. The money was used to help pay some students' health insurance premiums, increase stipends and create the Graduate Student Center, which opened its doors in October.

Penn's minimum stipend was raised from $12,000 to $12,500 across the University, while doctoral students in the School of Arts and Sciences will see minimum stipends climb to $14,000 over the next two years.

Conn also emphasized Penn's academic reputation as a major motivating factor in graduate students' decisions.

"Graduate students will continue to make their choice of Ph.D. school based above all on the academic quality of the faculty and program in their fields," he said in his statement. "In many fields, Penn is among the premier institutions and we will continue to attract our share of the best and brightest students in the country."

Harvard President Lawrence Summers has said that increasing aid for graduate students is a high priority for the school.

With the recent increases, students will be able to spend more time working on their degrees at Harvard. Whereas fellowships normally cover two academic years and one summer of study at the university, the boost in funding will allow humanities and social science fellowships to cover a second summer of study.

The influx of funding will also help create 50 research awards in the humanities, which include summer stipends and travel expenses.

Harvard's increase follows a $3.2 million increase in graduate aid last year, bringing the total upgrade to $12.8 million over the past five years.

Similarly, Yale increased its funding for the second consecutive year. This year's increase comes on the heels of a 20 percent hike in minimum stipends last year.

Other Ivy League institutions increased their funding last year as well.

Columbia University raised its basic stipends by 15 percent to $15,000, and stipends at Princeton University shot up by 12 percent.

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