Stipends go up $330 for teaching assistants

The teaching assistant stipend for the upcoming year in the School of Arts and Sciences will be $8,530, up $330 increase from this year. SAS Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Donald Fitts said Friday the stipend level will increase by four percent, the same as the proposed faculty and staff salary increase for the upcoming year. The TA stipend, which is set by SAS Dean Hugo Sonnenschein, was determined late last week, Fitts said. According to Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairperson Susan Garfinkel, the fellowship stipend level has been substantially higher in the past than the TA stipend. Over the last few years, the TA stipend was raised more than the fellowship stipend to even out the two figures. This year, both stipends were $8,200. Garfinkel said she was disturbed the administration chose to make the fellowship stipend higher than the TA stipend. The GAPSA chair said she felt by making the fellowship stipend higher than the TA stipend, the University was saying those graduate students who have to work for their money are less important. "I wonder why there is an artificial distinction between the fellowship stipend and the TA stipend," Garfinkel said. "Such a distinction has the appearance of being symbolically petty." Graduate Students Associations Council President Michael Polgar said he was also disappointed by the new TA stipend level. According to Polgar, for the first time in three years, the University did not increase the stipend level by $500 or more. Polgar also said the percentage increase was less than the nationwide cost-of-living increase. "I know some teaching assistants who did not sign up for Dining Service because they could not afford it," Polgar said.

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