Daily Egyptian SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
VOL. 100 ISSUE 99
SINCE 1916
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
Graduate assistantships fall at SIU
MARNIE LEONARD | @marsuzleo
For Mohamad Baba, an international doctoral candidate, having a graduate assistantship meant the difference between staying in the country and having to leave. He has now lost that assistantship. He is not alone. SIU graduate students seeking employment are finding assistantships more difficult to obtain this semester as the number of those offered has dropped. Data maintained by the university shows that graduate assistantships were reduced by 265 positions from Spring 2016 to Fall 2016. Baba, 44, returned to the U.S. in 2012 to pursue his doctorate after spending about 12 years teaching higher education in his native country of Malaysia. Four years ago, he and his wife decided to move to Carbondale to finish doctorate programs. SIU is one of the few universities in the country that offers the degree programs Baba and his wife, Masita, are pursuing. Getting a graduate assistantship at the university was also influential, he said, considering his status as an international student. As a research assistant, he was tasked with designing interactive, online-only courses for the university’s catalog. The assistantships funded educational and living expenses, plus the cost of raising their three schoolage children.
Drop in Graduate assistantships Comparison of fall semester assistantships Programs affected most drop between spring and fall 2016 semesters 2010-2016 Architecture -17
5000
Enrollment Assistantships
4,217
4000
Social work -16 Creative writing -12
3,183
3000
2000 1,791
1000
2010
1,214
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016 Reagan Gavin | Daily Egyptian
When he and his wife both lost assistantships in May, the bills at home began to pile up. “That is why we’ve been sort of struggling,” Baba said during an interview Monday. For the 3,183 graduate students enrolled this semester, there were 1,215
assistantships offered, data maintained by the university shows. That pans out to one assistantship for every 2.6 students. By comparison, the graduate school enrolled 4,217 students and granted 1,791 assistantships in Fall 2010. Public universities around Illinois were forced to trim budgets in reaction
to lowered state appropriations from the state’s ongoing budget crisis. During his State of the University address, interim Chancellor Brad Colwell said SIU has become too dependent on assistantships as a recruitment tool. Colwell said at the time the “culture” of thinking that assistantships should
be guaranteed with admission to a graduate school is something that needs to be changed. He said he hopes to increase graduate student enrollment by 10 percent while getting more students to pay their way to attend high-demand programs. Please see ASSISTANTSHIPS | 8