Dear Graduate Students:

In 2018, the university launched the Graduate Education Task Force to examine issues facing graduate education at UT Austin and recommend strategic improvements to strengthen programs and better support students. One of the task force’s most urgent recommendations was to increase graduate student salaries in areas where they are lower to better support students.

We are pleased to announce that during the 2021-22 academic year, the university is providing $10.9 million dollars in additional recurring funds to support graduate students.

The $10.9 million in new central funds will provide raises for graduate student academic employees in programs where salaries are lower, support students across campus through the creation of new fellowship positions and top-off funds and eliminate the shortfall of the Tuition Reduction Benefit (TRB), which resulted in many graduate student academic employees paying a portion of their tuition out-of-pocket. Colleges, schools and departments are also providing substantial contributions to raise salaries.

The $10.9 million investment represents the largest single increase for graduate students in the history of the university. Specifically, the new funds include:

$6 million to help increase graduate student salaries. Raises will be targeted to graduate student academic employees—teaching assistants (TAs), assistant instructors (AIs) and in some cases Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs)—in programs identified as having low salaries in the Graduate Education Task Force report.
$2.9 million to create new fellowships and top-off funds. These funds will help recruit and support top students and provide them more time to focus on academics and research at key points during their studies.
$2 million to support the tuition reduction benefit (TRB) fund. The TRB fund is intended to cover the cost of in-state tuition for TAs and AIs. Over the years as the university increased graduate tuition, contributions to the TRB fund did not keep pace, leading to a gap in coverage, which students often had to pay out-of-pocket. This increase, along with new steps to monitor the fund, will ensure that TA/AI tuition will be fully covered from now on as intended.

The university is on-track to begin providing salary increases starting in this semester. Students receiving salary increases have been/will be notified by their college/school leadership.

Additionally, this new investment enables raises through the annual merit pool to be more evenly distributed among graduate students across campus. This semester, we anticipate that all AIs and TAs will receive a raise in line with those of faculty and staff members.

New Salary Minimum

As a result of these investments, colleges and schools have been able to establish a minimum salary for most TAs and AIs. For programs where the expectation in their fields is to competitively support students—for example, most doctoral and terminal master’s programs—the targeted minimum for TA and AI salaries is $19,000 for a 20-hour, nine-month position.

This represents a minimum rate of around $24/per hour and does not include the value of the Tuition Reduction Benefit (TRB) and the tuition waiver that out-of-state academic graduate student employees receive in addition to salaries, and many programs surpass this level of support.

The Graduate School will continue to work with departments and colleges to further increase salaries and respond to the growing cost of living in Austin.

Health Insurance Savings

In April, the university announced a change in the default health insurance provider for part-time graduate student academic employees from UT SELECT to Academic Blue (SHIP). The goal of this change is to improve health care access and continuity, as recommended by the Graduate Education Task Force.

UT System manages the insurance plans for UT Austin along with the seven other academic campuses and five health institutions bearing the UT name. Academic Blue (SHIP) is the UT System insurance plan for a variety of students, including undergraduate and graduate students, Dell Medical School and School of Law students, and it is also the plan for visiting scholars and postdoctoral fellows. UT SELECT is the employee group health insurance plan for all eligible employees and retirees. Both plans provide quality coverage and are rated gold level by the Affordable Care Act, but the premiums for UT SELECT are higher due to a broader range of ages and health conditions of its subscribers.

The change to insuring graduate students through Academic Blue (SHIP) also potentially provides centrally recoverable savings to the university, which we have directed to support graduate education. The Graduate School, working with Financial and Administrative Services and the Office of the Provost, approached the University Budget Council with a $10.9 million request (the upper bound estimate of centrally recoverable savings) to increase graduate student support.

UT Austin is one of two academic institutions within UT System that provides full premium support for graduate student employees on Academic Blue (SHIP). UT System’s other academic institutions offer 50% premium contributions for part-time academic graduate student employees under UT SELECT.

Additionally, since the change was first announced, the university has received updated guidance from UT System that UT Austin is no longer required to withhold federal income tax for premium support toward Academic Blue. For more information, please read the Graduate School’s email to graduate student academic employees.

Campus Partners

Raising salaries has been a joint effort involving leadership in colleges and schools across campus, Financial and Administrative Services, Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) leadership, the Office of the Provost, the University Budget Council (UBC) and members of the Graduate Education Task Force.

We would like to thank everyone across campus who has been involved in this effort and who continues to work to improve graduate education at UT Austin.

Sincerely,

MARK J. T. SMITH
Dean of the Graduate School
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin

MARIA JUENGER

Associate Dean for Graduate Education Transformation

The Graduate School

The University of Texas at Austin

This communication is from Graduate Students – Official.
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The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | 78712 US