First year neuroscience graduate students Aybike Saglam, Andrew Borrell and Willy Sun talk with second year neuroscience graduate student Ruilong Hu in the Graduate Student Suite in Stamp Student Union.
After the university announced a midyear tuition increase Jan. 16, many graduate students were frustrated with the surcharge on their accounts, said Ellie Howe, Graduate Student Government public relations vice president.
The surcharge appeared on students’ accounts Feb. 11, said Howe, a second-year higher education, student affairs and international education policy graduate student. The student account charges ranged from $40 to $100, Howe said.
This university’s share of the $40.3 million cut to the University System of Maryland budget is $15.6 million. Raising undergraduate tuition and adding a surcharge for graduate students will generate $4 million toward balancing the cut, according to university President Wallace Loh’s Jan. 16 email to the university community.
Full-time in-state undergraduate students experienced a $76 tuition increase, as well as a one-time surcharge of $76. Full-time out-of-state undergraduates were required to pay a one-time surcharge of $279.
The graduate students were charged $10 per credit hour, capped at $100, said Brian Ullmann, marketing and communications assistant vice president. The money generated from the graduate student surcharges will make up about 4 percent of the $15.6 million cut, he said.
The surcharges are not covered by graduate assistantships, which are opportunities to work with faculty and undergraduates in their field of study, Howe said. These assistantships offer stipends, benefits and tuition remission. However, this does not cover mandatory fees, which are most fees excluding tuition.
This tuition increase is not considered a mandatory fee, Ullmann said. If a mandatory fee is applied to students, it needs to go through an approval process by the Committee for Review of Student Fees, GSG President Deborah Hemingway said.
Although this is classified as a tuition surcharge, it is not covered by graduate assistantships’ tuition remission; instead, it is an out-of-pocket expense, Ullmann said. This tuition surcharge is a one-time cost for graduate students, applicable only for the spring 2015 semester and is not covered by tuition remission.
After the surcharge hit student accounts, the GSG saw an influx of complaints, Howe said.
“Most grad students live on very tight, planned-out budgets, and every single dollar makes a difference,” Howe said.
Despite the number of student complaints, Ullmann said the January announcement made to the university about these expected charges was advance notice for February bills.
Howe said the university is in a “tight spot” financially but should have been more transparent with this surcharge and tuition costs, as most graduate students thought it would be covered by tuition remission.
The state announced in January a significant budget shortfall, resulting in cuts to state agencies and the university, which generated money to absorb the budget cut through furloughs, fund balancing and tuition increases and surcharges, Ullmann said.
“I understand the burden must be shared,” Howe said. “But they need to be as transparent as possible and inform students where these charges are going.”
Benjamin Shapiro, a first-year graduate student studying materials science and engineering, said he is also frustrated by these surcharges.
“I understand that there’s a budget shortfall,” Shapiro said, “and I’m sure there are ways to deal with it without taking $3 million from students in the middle of the semester.”
