Funding for graduate students should not be determined simply by undergraduate enrollment in particular programs, and the interests of graduate students should not be made to compete against all other interests of a School for the attention of that School's Dean. These funding problems are particularly acute in the Humanities due to the lack of external funding for research. Department by department, funding should be competitive nationally with similarly ranked programs. This would require better benchmarking and periodic review by the Graduate School of graduate programs nationwide. At the same time, small programs that report good placement for their students but cannot otherwise be ranked should be supported despite their problems with critical mass.
Some attention needs to be paid to funding equity issues.
The Graduate Student Council recognizes that funding disparities are due to the varied culture from department to department. However, there should be more transparency in the reasons for the level of funding each graduate student receives. Particular attention should be given to the role of such an office in recruiting minority and international students. There are several models for such an office within existing graduate programs that have access to external funding. For instance, the Biomedical Graduate Research Education and Training Program under Senior Associate Dean Roger Chalkley is exemplary in this regard.