Although the University recently increased graduate students' stipends, other sources of funding they rely on may be shrinking.
The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Research Student Travel Grant helps defray the costs - including travel, hotel and participation fees - of students presenting their work at academic conferences.
But limited funds mean GAPSA may have to scale back this support for students in the next few years.
Jessica Lautin, a History graduate student, attended and delivered a paper at a conference on city- and regional -planning history last fall that would have cost her almost $500.
"For a grad student, that much to attend a conference cuts into one's budget significantly," she said.
Fortunately, Lautin received a grant that covered about half her costs.
The grant - which operates on a budget of about $50,000 annually - is funded by the Office of the Provost, the GAPSA Research Council Budget and the now-dissolved Graduate Student Associations Council.
When GSAC dissolved last spring, its annual $10,000 surplus was allocated to the grant's budget.
However, that surplus will run out by fall 2010, said GAPSA Vice Chairman for Research Students Andrew Rennekamp.
Money is available to students in Ph.D. and master's programs who have been accepted to present research at domestic or international conferences. Rennekamp said the grant usually funds about 60 students during each of the year's three selection terms.
But 100 students applied for the spring deadline earlier this month - an all-time high.
"We wanted to fund as many applicants as we could while keeping it a significant amount of money," Rennekamp said.
As a temporary solution, the Council decided this week to cap this term's grants at $250. The previous cap was $300.
Reducing money per student enabled GAPSA to fund 85 applicants, Rennekamp said.
For now, the GAPSA Research Student Council has made no permanent decisions on how to handle the funding shortage in the long run if new money is not secured through more Provost support or reallocation of GAPSA's budget.
If they are unable to get additional funding, the Council will have to decide whether to reduce the number of students who get grants or the amount of money each student receives.
Graduate students who have received funding in the past say it offers unique and important educational opportunities.
"Conferences give you an opportunity to be critiqued by scholars and engage in dialogue with peers," said Graduate School of Education student Christopher Tudico, who used a grant to present research on the Mexican-American experience in higher education.
Cutting awards or reducing availability is "not a step in the right direction," he said.
With more funding, Rennekamp said GAPSA would "certainly expand the program."
But he noted that the increased competition for grants has actually challenged students to be more thorough and creative in their applications.
"It makes the recipient pool that much stronger," he said.
