Fellowship Bonus/Incentive Policies

[LockeOak]

Hi everyone, I just received the news that I would be receiving a federal fellowship for the next 3 years, enough to carry me through to graduation. I've noticed that many universities have outside fellowship bonus or incentive policies that provide bonuses on top of the normal stipend to students with outside funding sources. According to a quick Google search $2,000/year seems typical. The fellowship stipend alone would amount to a small but noticeable raise to my current TA stipend, mostly as I will no longer have to pay student fees or health insurance out of pocket (approx. $2,000/year). I'm in my third year, my first was funded by a university-wide scholarship and the following two years by teaching assistantships. My university does not appear to have such a policy, at least not one that is advertised.

My questions:

1) Should I take the initiative and ask for a bonus ($1,000-2,000/year, perhaps) from the graduate school?

2) Any suggestions on how to go about it?

3) Am I morally justified in doing so? It's a state flagship research university, but the university budget has been cut severely for the past two years and layoffs will likely begin to adjuncts, custodial staff and student workers soon if the situation doesn't improve. That said, I have effectively brought in over $100,000 to the university with this fellowship and my particular field of research is quiet expensive (travel, additional accident insurance, equipment purchase/maintenance, certification maintenance, etc.). I have been paying for these out of pocket for three years.

I don't exactly have any bargaining power, as if they say "No" I don't really have any leverage. I am very happy about the fellowship so I won't be upset if it doesn't work, but I thought it might be worth a try. From some of the happy messages in the other threads I think other people may be in the same situation. Advice welcome.

Edited April 9, 2010 by LockeOak

[juilletmercredi]

Ask. The worst you can hear is no, and you'll be in the same position as you are now.

There must be someone in your department - someone in the business office, your departmental coordinator, somebody - who is in the know and is a friendly face you can talk to about this. Go to them, and ask about the feasibility of such a proposal and who you would have to talk to to make it happen.

My university has a bonus policy - if you get an outside scholarship they will top up your monthly stipend to a maximum yearly award of $28K. Or you can opt to defer a year of your 5-year school fellowship to your 6th or 7th year.

As for moral justification...the university is a business and operates like one. They're cutting budgets while planting new flowers each month in the spring and giving institutional grants to tenured professors. A $1,000-2,000 bonus is not going to make or break an adjunct line.

[rising_star]

There must be someone in your department - someone in the business office, your departmental coordinator, somebody - who is in the know and is a friendly face you can talk to about this. Go to them, and ask about the feasibility of such a proposal and who you would have to talk to to make it happen.

I agree. I would ask someone in the department about the feasibility before sending a random email or letter to someone in the graduate college. Also, you should ask about whether the department has bonus scholarships, whether the university has them, or both or neither.

As for moral justification...the university is a business and operates like one. They're cutting budgets while planting new flowers each month in the spring and giving institutional grants to tenured professors. A $1,000-2,000 bonus is not going to make or break an adjunct line.

While the bonus may not break or make an adjunct line, it may affect other areas of the budget like operational expenses, travel funds for either faculty or grad students, or other intangibles.