Grad Student Rolls Dip at LSU *** Professors Blame Lack of Funding

By JESSICA FENDER

Grad student rolls dip at LSU *** Professors blame lack of funding

Three years after the debut of LSU’s “flagship agenda,” university leaders are struggling to bring to campus more graduate students – a hot commodity that can do wonders for a university’s reputation.

While some enrollments have been steadily climbing, fewer students are seeking master’s and doctoral degrees than a decade ago.

And despite special attention in the flagship agenda, the 2005 total graduate enrollment number dipped slightly from the prior year.

Explanations range from a drop in the number of international graduate students entering the United States to not enough focus on graduate-level studies.

But the real bottom line is the bottom line.

“We are grossly underfunded,” said professor John Matson. He said the clinical psychology department’s budget for graduate assistant stipends – the main way doctoral and master’s students receive university aid – is the same as it was 21 years ago when he started.

His program gets top-quality graduate students who are “willing to make financial sacrifices to come here, but on the other hand, unfortunately they have to,” he said.

Graduate students are the foot soldiers in a university’s army of researchers and scholars.

Under the direction of tenured professors, they do lab and field work, teach undergraduate classes and take on much of the legwork for faculty members – at the same time they work on their advanced degrees.

The setup frees tenured professors to apply for federal grants, publish papers, participate in faculty governance and do all the other things that bring a university academic prestige.

LSU officials decided in 2003 that boosting the number of graduate students is a key to achieving national standing for Louisiana’s flagship university.

They set the university’s sights on 15 peer schools and eight big- time national schools.

LSU ranks ahead of only Auburn University in the portion of its student body made up of graduate students. About 15 percent of LSU’s students are seeking master’s or doctoral degrees.

At the nationally prominent schools LSU has set its sights on, graduate populations are up to double that size.

Large numbers of graduate students mean more research can be done, which means more federal grant revenue and more respect from peer institutions.

Neurobiology professor John Caprio studies catfish to determine why humans can both smell and taste – two similar sensory functions. If he didn’t have his graduate assistant and one other researcher, he would not have time to compete for funds to keep his lab running.

He said LSU may be modeling itself after schools like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with its 30 percent graduate student population. But Caprio said university leaders are reluctant to divert resources from undergraduate education.

“LSU can’t be everything to everybody,” Caprio said. UNC is “a graduate institution that’s highly selective, with a small undergraduate population.”

Officials in the office of graduate studies attribute this year’s decline – a loss of 297 students from 4,804 in fall 2004 – to a post- Sept. 11 environment that bars or delays entrance to the United States for foreign students.

Universities across the country have faced the phenomenon for the last few years.

“Entry into the U.S. and obtaining student visas has become much tougher,” said Harold Silverman, vice chancellor for graduate studies and research.

Rene Renegar, who oversees graduate admissions, said a national upswing in the economy may also be driving down the number of graduate students.

“The economy does have an effect on graduate studies. There’s a natural decrease in applications when it’s a hot job market out there,” Renegar said.

But Matson said attracting top students isn’t a problem for programs like clinical psychology.

Of 250 applicants this year, Matson said only 10 received stipends. That’s all the department could afford.

Stipends range widely from discipline to discipline and often fall short of covering all a student’s expenses.

The average LSU allotment is $10,000 a year in social sciences and $16,000 to $18,000 in basic sciences, according to Pam Monroe, assistant dean of the graduate school.

Professors who receive research grants often pay students with grant money.

And while students say money is only one factor in choosing a graduate school, stronger support packages would make LSU more attractive.

Scott Patterson, a doctoral student in the program, knew applying to LSU meant taking a vow of poverty of sorts.

To supplement his $9,500-a-school-year stipend, Patterson has taken out about $45,000 in loans in four years and postponed quality- of-life upgrades like a better apartment.

The program’s record on job placement makes the sacrifice worth it, he said.

“They tell you on interview day it (the student stipend) is pretty poor. It doesn’t compare to a lot of other universities,” Patterson said. “But you have to be willing to bite the bullet.”

Money and benefits weren’t deciding factors when doctoral student Brian O’Shea came to LSU, he said. The quality of a program and the professors are what drive graduate student applications, according to the ornithology student.

“Stipends are important, especially in the first couple of years. We have classes we’re taking, a lot of demands on our time,” O’Shea said. But he came to LSU because it’s “well known for having the best ornithology program in the country.”

Monroe says the graduate studies department is working on ways to sweeten the deal for students.

For the first time this semester, LSU’s 1,179 full-time graduate students don’t have to give back large portions of their stipends to pay tuition.

“The fact that our students paid tuition was an immediate factor that made us less competitive with our peers,” Monroe said. “When we play catch-up or try to remain competitive with our peers, they don’t sit still.”

The graduate school increased the amount it gives to graduate assistantships by about $4 million between the 2002-2003 school year and 2004-2005. That’s not including the $3 million the tuition forgiveness program cost the school.

With limited resources, Monroe said her department has to make difficult decisions.

Should the graduate school expand its free tuition program to part-time students?

Or should the graduate school spend money improving health care for its students – a common gripe among graduate assistants who have to pay extra for limited coverage. Other schools that already offered free tuition have moved on to providing health care as well.

She said boosting stipend packages is only one approach to increasing the number of graduate students at LSU. University efforts to support faculty will help, too.

LSU leaders plan to announce a major fund-raising campaign later this spring. Chancellor Sean O’Keefe has said much of that money will go to graduate student and faculty support.

The school has not announced a campaign goal, but its endowment lags behind those of most regional peers. Endowments are large sums of invested money that cannot be spent, except for the interest they generate.

Silverman predicts these and other efforts will help LSU meet its goal for graduate students in the next four years.

“It is not really a question of whether the state and university can afford to support the national flagship goals the question as related to the future growth for the state is, can we afford not to?” said Silverman.