Resolution 0405-WI-014

A Resolution Concerning Departmental Responses to the 260-Hour Limit on State Subsidy Eligibility

Author: Mike Daniels(.203)

Approved 11 February 2005

WHEREAS the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) allots doctoral subsidy to Ohio's state-supported institutions in proportion to the average number of doctoral full-time equivalents (FTEs) they offered over the period FY94--FY98, provided the institution's current FTEs number at least 85% of that figure; and

WHEREAS OBR does not count credit hours offered to doctoral students who have earned more than 260 quarter credit hours in determining an institution's total doctoral FTEs; and

WHEREAS the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) at OSU does not count such students when internally allocating marginal increases or decreases in doctoral subsidy to the eighteen colleges; and

WHEREAS this policy creates an incentive for programs at OSU to minimize the number of students who have earned more than 260 quarter credit hours; and

WHEREAS there appears to be no documented pedagogical basis for the 260 credit hour figure; and

WHEREAS adequate mechanisms already exist for determining whether students are making suitable progress toward their degree and dealing with students who are not making suitable progress; and

WHEREAS many departmental and/or Graduate School (GS) policies require students in certain situations to exceed the 260-hour mark (for example, a student with five years of external or GS fellowship support who must enroll for 15 hours per quarter, or 60 hours per year); and

WHEREAS the recent growth in graduate minors and interdisciplinary specializations also encourages students to earn additional credit hours; and

WHEREAS several departments have asked doctoral candidates with more than 260 credit hours to not enroll for one or more quarters and instead be hired on as staff (typically research scientists or lecturers); and

WHEREAS there is no evidence that graduate students in these departments were advised on entry to the program to minimize their credit hour consumption; and

WHEREAS the consequences of such a change, in terms of access to health insurance, University facilities (including residences), and student programming are either poorly understood or outright negative,

LET IT THEREFORE BE RESOLVED that the Council of Graduate Students believes it is impossible for any graduate student to give informed consent to such a change in status; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of Graduate Students calls upon the Graduate School, in conjunction with the Office of Academic Affairs, to issue guidelines prohibiting such changes in status; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of Graduate Students calls upon the Office of Academic Affairs to remove any budgetary incentives for minimizing the number of students having earned more than 260 credit hours who are nevertheless maintaining satisfactory progress toward their degree; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of Graduate Students charges its President to communicate this position to the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Dean of the Graduate School, and all other appropriate groups; and

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of Graduate Students directs its President to report the administration's response to this resolution at the April 2005 Council meeting.

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