Penn graduate students will soon be seeing more financial aid and less pressure to finish their degrees in time.
Yesterday the School of Arts and Sciences received a $6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support graduate education in the humanities.
The money will significantly enhance financial aid for SAS graduate students in the humanities through several scholarships, said SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell.
For the next three or four years, the grant will be put toward fellowships for dissertation research, completion and summer research, which are the areas the University needs to address most promptly, Bushnell added.
Last spring the University raised tuition by $2,222 per year for School of Arts and Sciences students beyond their sixth year of enrollment, prompting complaints from students who said the added financial burden would force them to take on extra jobs to help cover the cost.
These scholarships will be given to competitive students who have not finished their dissertations by their fifth year of study.
"This will allow [graduate students] to finish without having to take on extra employment," said Associate Graduate Dean Ralph Rosen, "It's almost like a postdoctorate year."
Bushnell explained that the money will ultimately go toward establishing a new scholarship program, which will "recognize our most distinguished" graduate students in their fourth or fifth years.
The award will be named after Francis Hopkinson, Penn-affiliated signer of the Declaration of Independence and namesake of one of the dormitories in Fisher Hassenfeld College House.
"Graduate student support is an investment not only in the future of academe but also in the future of society," said Penn President Amy Gutmann in the press release. "The Mellon Foundation's generous grant will allow us to . sustain our commitment to the next generation of scholars and researchers."
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation makes long-term grants in a number of areas, particularly in the humanities, to strengthen and sustain institutions.
"They understand the humanities, they are interested in graduate education in the humanities and recognize that it is important to be training the next level of professionals in those fields," Rosen said.
The foundation has been a strong supporter of scholarships at Penn in particular over the past 25 years.
"This is a wonderful opportunity, especially in the current climate," Rosen added. "All you see is gloom and doom, and this is the one bright spot. We're very grateful for that."
