Duke Graduate School
Dear master’s students,
Duke recently announced a number of measures to help reduce expenses for graduate and professional students in light of the rising cost of living. We want to make you aware of the ones that will benefit you.

University Actions

  • The university has standardized graduate and professional student parking rates and reduced those rates to the level of undergraduate parking rates. This means that graduate and professional students will save 23.5% if they park in PG3 or 12.5% if they park in the Science Drive Garage or the Graduate Center Lot.

    The change is retroactive for the entire academic year. The credit for the savings was posted to the Bursar accounts of more than 3,300 graduate and professional students on September 26. Please contact tranpark@duke.edu if you have any questions about parking.

  • Effective immediately, the university will allow “night permit” parking access to the Circuit, Chemistry, GC and H parking lots starting at 4 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. This provides graduate and professional students more flexibility to park closer to the buildings where their training takes place.

  • The Office of Parking and Transportation will have annual engagement with the Graduate and Professional Student Government to solicit feedback on parking and transit programs, review any planned changes in service, and discuss rates for the coming academic year.

  • Duke is in the process of master leasing another 84 beds for graduate and professional students at Lancaster Commons, adding affordable housing capacity beyond the 250 beds offered to those student populations for the current academic year. The university will continue to work on increasing affordable housing options for graduate and professional students.

  • The university will explore developing dining plan options that suit graduate students’ needs to help manage food expenses.

Graduate School Resources

In addition to the university’s actions, The Graduate School is drawing on its reserve funds to provide a one-time sum of $800,000 to support its students in various ways. Here are the resources that are open to master’s students:
  • TGS will transfer funds into the Duke Career Center resource that provides up to $250 per student for the future purchase of professional or interview attire. TGS’s contributions will be earmarked for its Ph.D. and master’s students with demonstrated financial need.

  • TGS will put additional funds toward the pool for its Professional Development Grant, which supports department and student efforts to create discipline-specific programming.

  • TGS is creating a Graduate Student Wellness Fund to help subsidize the costs to develop or implement initiatives related to the promotion, awareness, or improvement of mental health and wellbeing for the Duke graduate student community. To apply for funding, please contact grad-gsa@duke.edu.

  • TGS will provide funding on a first-come, first-serve basis to support graduate students who are interested in taking Koru Mindfulness Fundamentals, a five-week, live-session course. To request funding, please contact grad-gsa@duke.edu.

  • TGS will offer a number of additional training opportunities for students, including:

    -- “Dress for Success” workshops on professional attire expectations

    -- Small-group workshops on oral communications, with opportunities for individualized coaching and feedback

    -- Workshops on time management, which will be in addition to the one already scheduled for spring so as to meet demand

    -- In-depth Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) training

    -- A pilot program offering one-year subscriptions to Beyond Graduate School, an online tool for master’s student career development

    -- Free CliftonStrengths assessment and accompanying StrengthsFinder 2.0 e-books for 1,000 students

    These training opportunities will be published on TGS’s events calendar and promoted via its communications channels (e.g., newsletters and social media) as they are scheduled.

If you have any questions about the resources from The Graduate School, please do not hesitate to contact the Office of Graduate Student Affairs (grad-gsa@duke.edu). My colleagues and I will continue to collaborate with our campus partners, your programs, and the Graduate and Professional Student Government to support your studies and research.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Barbour
Dean of The Graduate School
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
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