We, Penn SAS graduate students, want to express our support for the efforts of various SAS graduate chairs as conveyed in the following letter to Ralph Rosen, Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Studies:
Dear Ralph,
We the undersigned, Chairs of various Graduate Groups at Penn, would like to bring to your attention an issue that comes up again and again in conversations with both current and newly admitted graduate students: the timing of stipend checks at the beginning of the academic year. This issue is gaining significance as we admit increasingly diverse cohorts of students with different economic situations and backgrounds, and we feel strongly that the time has come to tackle it head-on.
The problem is simple: fall term begins in late August, which means students often have to rent apartments starting August 1st. A new rental often requires the up-front payment of the first month’s rent, the last month’s rent, and sometimes a security deposit as well. All this can add up to several thousand dollars. The first stipend check from GSAS, however, typically doesn’t arrive until mid-September, meaning that students have to come up with several thousand dollars plus a September rent check before receiving a dime from Penn.
This situation frequently creates significant economic difficulties for incoming students and is a critical problem for international students and students of limited economic means. Prospective students (admitted to a Penn PhD program but still undecided) have raised concerns on this front. We’re not sure whether they’ve heard about the problem from current Penn grad students, or are aware of the problem more generally (regardless of school and location). Whatever the case, given that Penn’s fall semester is going to continue starting in August, how can we expect students who rely on Penn funding to get by with zero financial support until mid-September?
We want to emphasize that this is not a plea for more money; it’s a plea that funds be disbursed in time to meet the demands imposed by Penn’s academic calendar. As Penn’s Vice Provost for Education, Beth Winkelstein, recently made clear, this is a policy that GSAS can determine on its own, and does not require a university-wide change of practice.
We would like to work together with you to solve this eminently solvable problem.
Sincerely,
Ben Nathans, Chair, Graduate Group in History
Josh Klein, Chair, Graduate Group in Physics and Astronomy
Cynthia Damon, Chair, Graduate Group in Classical Studies
Adelheid Voskuhl, Chair, Graduate Group in the History and Sociology of Science
Heather Williams, Chair, Graduate Group in Africana Studies
Shu Yang, Chair, Graduate Group in Materials Science and Engineering
Joseph Lowry, Chair, Graduate Group in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Ian Fleishman, Chair, Graduate Group in Germanic Languages and Literatures
Eva Del Soldato, Chair, Graduate Group in Italian Studies
Matthew Bidwell, Doctoral Coordinator for the Management Department at Wharton
Gene Buckley, Chair, Graduate Group in Linguistics
Thomas Tartaron, Chair, Graduate Group in Art & Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
Sara Jaffee, Chair, Graduate Group in Psychology
David Eng, Chair, Graduate Group in English
Jeremy McInerney, Chair, Graduate Group in Ancient History
Updates
April 9, 2019
I am honestly overwhelmed by how quickly this has grown and I want to thank everyone who took the time to read and share it. This momentum belongs entirely to you because you were the ones who recognized that this struggle is simply not acceptable. I really did not think this would resonate so deeply with so many people.
15 Comments
Ridiculous that this is still a thing. Penn has the money, just fix the payroll cycle.
Had to take out a high interest credit card just to survive that first month back in 2013. It is absurd that the school expects people to float them for six weeks before paying a cent.
Very happy to see this. The graduate union worked hard to articulate this problem and give graduate students a space to talk about it - including calling it the “month of poverty.” Especially if this petition is successful, I hope the graduate chairs will also credit GET-UP's organizing efforts and support its future mission, rather than erase the history of this political groundwork.
Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History, Troy University PhD, Penn NELC 2011 Student poverty is a problem everywhere. This is a simple step that Penn can take that will make the lives of its grad students easier.
As an incoming international graduate student in 2015 the September first stipend made my beginnings at Penn very difficult. My colleague and I could not afford furniture for our apartment until October. We just had two mattresses and two fold-out chairs in our apartment until we were paid, as all our savings had gone on paying first and last month rent plus deposit.
dfd
Ph.D. Art History 2018
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We, Penn SAS graduate students, want to express our support for the efforts of various SAS graduate chairs as conveyed in the following letter to Ralph Rosen, Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Studies:
Dear Ralph,
We the undersigned, Chairs of various Graduate Groups at Penn, would like to bring to your attention an issue that comes up again and again in conversations with both current and newly admitted graduate students: the timing of stipend checks at the beginning of the academic year. This issue is gaining significance as we admit increasingly diverse cohorts of students with different economic situations and backgrounds, and we feel strongly that the time has come to tackle it head-on.
The problem is simple: fall term begins in late August, which means students often have to rent apartments starting August 1st. A new rental often requires the up-front payment of the first month’s rent, the last month’s rent, and sometimes a security deposit as well. All this can add up to several thousand dollars. The first stipend check from GSAS, however, typically doesn’t arrive until mid-September, meaning that students have to come up with several thousand dollars plus a September rent check before receiving a dime from Penn.
This situation frequently creates significant economic difficulties for incoming students and is a critical problem for international students and students of limited economic means. Prospective students (admitted to a Penn PhD program but still undecided) have raised concerns on this front. We’re not sure whether they’ve heard about the problem from current Penn grad students, or are aware of the problem more generally (regardless of school and location). Whatever the case, given that Penn’s fall semester is going to continue starting in August, how can we expect students who rely on Penn funding to get by with zero financial support until mid-September?
We want to emphasize that this is not a plea for more money; it’s a plea that funds be disbursed in time to meet the demands imposed by Penn’s academic calendar. As Penn’s Vice Provost for Education, Beth Winkelstein, recently made clear, this is a policy that GSAS can determine on its own, and does not require a university-wide change of practice.
We would like to work together with you to solve this eminently solvable problem.
Sincerely,
Ben Nathans, Chair, Graduate Group in History
Josh Klein, Chair, Graduate Group in Physics and Astronomy
Cynthia Damon, Chair, Graduate Group in Classical Studies
Adelheid Voskuhl, Chair, Graduate Group in the History and Sociology of Science
Heather Williams, Chair, Graduate Group in Africana Studies
Shu Yang, Chair, Graduate Group in Materials Science and Engineering
Joseph Lowry, Chair, Graduate Group in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Ian Fleishman, Chair, Graduate Group in Germanic Languages and Literatures
Eva Del Soldato, Chair, Graduate Group in Italian Studies
Matthew Bidwell, Doctoral Coordinator for the Management Department at Wharton
Gene Buckley, Chair, Graduate Group in Linguistics
Thomas Tartaron, Chair, Graduate Group in Art & Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
Sara Jaffee, Chair, Graduate Group in Psychology
David Eng, Chair, Graduate Group in English
Jeremy McInerney, Chair, Graduate Group in Ancient History
Updates
April 9, 2019
I am honestly overwhelmed by how quickly this has grown and I want to thank everyone who took the time to read and share it. This momentum belongs entirely to you because you were the ones who recognized that this struggle is simply not acceptable. I really did not think this would resonate so deeply with so many people.
15 Comments
So glad to see other grad communities are lobbying for this from their universities; I'm a PhD student at UC San Diego, and this issue is so ridiculous across the UC system; admin cares little to not at all, so long as they can hike their own housing prices and feign sympathy.
Ridiculous that this is still a thing. Penn has the money, just fix the payroll cycle.
Had to take out a high interest credit card just to survive that first month back in 2013. It is absurd that the school expects people to float them for six weeks before paying a cent.
Very happy to see this. The graduate union worked hard to articulate this problem and give graduate students a space to talk about it - including calling it the “month of poverty.” Especially if this petition is successful, I hope the graduate chairs will also credit GET-UP's organizing efforts and support its future mission, rather than erase the history of this political groundwork.
Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History, Troy University PhD, Penn NELC 2011 Student poverty is a problem everywhere. This is a simple step that Penn can take that will make the lives of its grad students easier.
As an incoming international graduate student in 2015 the September first stipend made my beginnings at Penn very difficult. My colleague and I could not afford furniture for our apartment until October. We just had two mattresses and two fold-out chairs in our apartment until we were paid, as all our savings had gone on paying first and last month rent plus deposit.
dfd
Ph.D. Art History 2018
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So glad to see other grad communities are lobbying for this from their universities; I'm a PhD student at UC San Diego, and this issue is so ridiculous across the UC system; admin cares little to not at all, so long as they can hike their own housing prices and feign sympathy.