Penn is granting graduate students higher stipends to keep its programs competitive and to increase access and aid.
The University announced yesterday that the minimum stipend for Ph.D students who receive nine-month fellowships will increase by 6.7 percent to $19,200 starting this September.
The School of Arts and Sciences also announced that it is increasing its minimum stipend for Ph.D students who receive ten-month fellowships by 14.7 percent to $21,000.
Stipends for graduate students are currently $18,300, the lowest in the Ivy League last year.
University President Amy Gutmann said the increase is an "important endorsement of the centrality of grad students to our campus."
Enhanced support for graduate programs will increase understanding of the importance of the graduate student body and improve the quality of future faculty, she said.
"We're absolutely thrilled," Graduate and Professional Student Assembly President Dan Grabell said of the decision.
Grabell said GAPSA has been working for a year and a half to increase stipends, which cover "everything outside of tuition," such as room, board, food and basic transportation costs.
The University's minimum stipend has increased 22 percent over the past four years.
Grabell said the "first significant increase in quite a few years" is a "step in the right direction."
In addition to the University-wide minimums, administrators are encouraging individual schools and graduate programs to establish higher stipend levels.
Gutmann said they are "asking each school to do as much as it can to increase support."
In yesterday's announcement to SAS graduate and department chairs, SAS officials said they will take further steps to enhance their programs and candidate quality.
Those steps will vary among the school's 32 graduate programs, but may include more 12-month fellowships and more fellowships that do not require teaching or research.
"This is a huge step up and a huge vow of support for graduate education here at Penn," Grabell said.
Staff writer Rachel Baye contributed reporting to this article.
