Writing off the cost of research | Scholarship essay contest for SAS grad students

Despite the recent increase in graduate student stipends, Leslie Warden is still struggling to pay for out-of-print books that cost up to $300 for her dissertation research.

SASgov, the student government of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will be hosting an essay competition to draw attention to the increasing costs of books.

Rafael Walker, the SASgov Vice President for Policy, said the issue hasn't been a pivotal one in graduate-student policy. It receives so little attention that Leo Charney, a spokesman for the Provost's office, said the administration was unaware of any concerns from students relating to the increasing textbook costs.

Participants will be asked to identify an exorbitantly priced book that is crucial to their research and to recommend possible solutions to alleviate the problem.

"Faculty members have budgets that can offset the costs [of research materials], but graduate students don't," Walker said.

He added that textbook cost was not a factor in calculating graduate students' annual stipends.

And as a result of the financial restraint, students like Warden have tried to get by without the expensive books.

"Not having certain books has definitely slowed me down [in my dissertation]," Warden said.

Andrew Rennekamp, chairman of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and a Penn Medicine student, said that although the specific issue of higher textbook prices was never raised in the assembly - whose members include SASgov - last year's increase in graduate-student stipends was intended in part to help students afford education expenses such as textbooks.

The minimum stipend for SAS graduate students was raised from $18,300 over a nine month period to $21,000 over a 10-month period, Rennekamp said.

Caroline Bishop, president of SASgov, believes the contest will be a way to make this "little-considered issue public."

The contest will run from Sept. 8 through Sept. 22, and the winner will receive the book described in their essay.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.