Stipends

Many graduate students cannot afford to pay for their basic needs with the current stipend levels. Housing in College Park and the surrounding area is very expensive and the East Campus development may be unaffordable for the vast majority of graduate students. Those who have partners or dependents suffer even more. There is also a huge disparity in stipends across departments and graduate students in smaller departments get very meager stipends.

The new Strategic Plan for the University calls for significant increases in graduate stipends. By 2017 stipends should reach $18,000 for a 9.5 month assistantships. At a constant rate of 2.8% inflation, the increase would equal $597 per year for the next 10 years.