Page 300 - Crisis in Higher Education

270 • Crisis in Higher Education

graduate courses is substantially lower, even though students pay
higher tuition.
3. Graduate assistantships: In many master’s programs, a significant
percentage of students are enticed to enroll with the offer of a grad-
uate assistantship that can provide “up to” free tuition and a full
stipend to cover living expenses. Most students in PhD programs
receive free tuition and a stipend that vary substantially from as
little as $10,000 annually to more than $30,000. Master’s stipends
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are usually much smaller. In some cases, the costs of tuition and the
stipend are paid by research grants, but often universities bear them,
making graduate programs even more expensive.

Table 12.2 and this discussion offer credible evidence that some
parts of undergraduate education subsidize other parts of undergradu-
ate studies as well as graduate education. It seems reasonable to argue
that doing so is unfair. Taking this a step further: Why should students
attending public universities pay twice as much for general educa-
tion courses in algebra and economics as students pay at a two-year
college? There should be ways for universities to offer these courses at
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the same price.
State government, working with public universities, should address
these subsidizes and determine if differential tuition is a reasonable
option. As proposed in Chapter 9, states should create HECs to examine
these and other issues and share ideas and progress, but each state would
arrive at its own decision. The HEC would make recommendations on
the following.

1. To what extent are public universities using general education
courses to subsidize other undergraduate courses and programs?
2. Should public universities have differential tuition for undergrad-
uate courses in general education, disciplinary core, and major
and minor fields of study? Should the state provide larger subsidies
for more expensive courses and programs? Some states already
do so.
3. What is the cost of a graduate degree? To what extent does under-
graduate education subsidize graduate education? Is it fair for under-
graduate education to provide this subsidy? Should universities
increase graduate tuition substantially and/or should states provide
larger subsidies?