The retraction of the funding offer at U of Arizona

[exaznable]

You might be already heard about this, but here is the shocking news that is from Daily nous. http://dailynous.com/2020/04/08/u-arizona-retracts-ph-d-funding-pandemic/

 

Yesterday evening, we were informed by Andrew Carnie, Dean of the Graduate College, in conjunction with the Provost, that all outstanding offers of funding to prospective graduate students be rescinded. This however did not apply to those who have already accepted offers. It also only applied to students whose funding would come from university sources; offers funded by e.g. external grants were exempt. It is our understanding that this is a university-wide decision and applies to all such outstanding offers in any department. Our understanding is also that the Graduate College bases the legality of this decision on a clause in offer letters which allows for defunding under exceptional circumstances. We were also informed by JP Jones, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (the college in which Philosophy is housed) that he would grant no exceptions to this policy.

We do not comply with this policy by choice, but by command. It is a policy that we both disagree with and have opposed, but are forced to enact.

Unlike offers of funding, offers of acceptance have not been retracted. But we fully understand that an offer of acceptance without funding is hardly better than a rejection, and we do not expect any students to come to the University of Arizona unfunded. But to stress again, this decision has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of any individuals’ applications; we deem the applications of those whom we originally accepted, as well as those originally on our waitlist, to be of an exceptionally high quality. That we will not be able to welcome them into our program next year is a fact about which we are acutely disappointed.

We would be absolutely delighted if we could admit those students who have been directly affected by this at a later date—provided they still want to come. We understand that they may have other offers and that, regardless of those offers, given the way this has played out they may not want to come to the University of Arizona—a judgment we would understand completely.

We are deeply, deeply disappointed at this turn of events, and sincerely hope that those harmed by our University’s decisions will nonetheless be able to make arrangements that will lead them to a future of happiness and success.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by exaznable

[exaznable]

It's very shocking, and I am afraid that other schools may do the same thing (which I hope that is not the case). Also, I am not sure how people's strategy with regard to accepting an offer should be changed given the possibility that the same thing might happen.

[UndergradDad]

Yes, very concerning, especially for those whose offer states "based on availability of funds" for assistantships.

[KarlX]

It is hard to believe! I'm very worried about  what will happen to us in the near future, too.