graduate college update faculty senate april 3, 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Upcoming Strategies
• Graduate Open Houses • Graduate College Day/Night for area
institutions• Virtual open house and Graduate College
Ambassadors
• Target Local Employers• Deferred payment plan• Office hours for employees and area
businesses with questions about returning to school
• Non-degree Students• Communication plan to gauge interest in
degree program
• Collaborative Agreements (3:2 programs)
Other Considerations for Graduate Enrollment
• Capacity• Quality of Applicant• Fit to program• Cost/Funding
– Self pay– Employer pay– Country pay– Scholarship dollars– Department/college one time funds– Grants and Contract support– Academic Affairs graduate assistant allocations
Graduate Assistantships
• An identified barrier for our programs when recruiting nationally and internationally has been the cost of an assistantship with non-resident versus resident tuition.
• Planning for graduate summer courses is difficult without knowing in advance how many summer assistantships will be offered.
Issues/Concerns
Graduate Assistantships
Issues/Concerns
• Given budget constraints, it is unlikely that funding for graduate assistantships will increase.
• The transition from 6 to 9 credit hours covered/semester under the TAU contract has been covered with one time funds.
• This use of one time funds to cover the increase in tuition is not sustainable.
Moving Forward
• For a number of years, tuition expenditure was less than budgeted due to students taking less credits than offered. This was often recycled to fund summer positions or left untouched.
• Propose to centralize the tuition so the accumulated savings could be used to cover cost of student tuition regardless of residency.
• Propose to yearly allocate compensation dollars to colleges in fall for following year so timely offers can be made and course planning would be easier.
New Distribution Model
• Beginning Fall 2014 tuition will be centralized within the Graduate College (follows recommendation of committees from 2005 and 2010) – different method of tracking of expenditures will
be implemented
• Offers to new students can be made regardless of residency status
• Continuous evaluation• Committee to evaluate principles for
college compensation distribution
WMU Graduate Admissionspartners with
to streamline the application process by using ApplyYourself to
create a better experience for applicants and end users.
Internal Audit Conducted by Hobsons
• Reviewed application process for 106 degree programs and university application
• Reviewed practices of review and decision making
• Reviewed current integration with the student information system
Hobson’s ApplyYourself Strategic Goals
• Simplify the applicant experience• Reduce unnecessary and redundant data
entry• Add efficiency to the recommendation
process• Integrate the university and international
applications • Help academic units take review online• Ensure continuity between ApplyYourself
and Banner• Retain current WMU branding
Current Progress on Implementation of Hobsons
ApplyYourself
• Working with a Hobsons implementation specialist, we have begun building a customized application experience
• Data cataloging is nearing completion
• Information sessions next week for graduate directors/chairs on progress and for review of information