This is what has been done previously.
Funds go to programs year after year based mostly on student head count.
The programs have come to rely on these funds and have developed a sense of entitlement. Although we should continue to allocate funds to programs based on some sort of student head count, we also should reward achievements. In light of the recent decentralization of the block grant, which no longer comes from the Office of the President or is based on numbers of Ph.D. and masters students, the possibility of eliminating the differential funding allocation that gives more money to Ph.D. students than to masters students was presented for discussion. Ph.D. programs at major research institutions are not growing. In contrast, masters programs are growing very fast.