To the University of Arizona Administration,

At a time when the University of Arizona is undergoing significant financial and organizational restructuring, the precarious status of graduate and professional students becomes increasingly apparent. At present, graduate students are encountering unique challenges that concern both their ability to succeed as students and their ability to support themselves as employees of the university. In recognition of these concerns and the urgency with which they must be addressed, we are writing to you today to outline these issues and suggest some pathways for addressing them.

The concerns we outline here are substantiated by a survey that has been administered to graduate and professional students across campus. In four days, we received 604 reponses with representation from departments and colleges across campus. While we recognize that the status of graduate and professional students varies significantly across programs and colleges, as does the information and support they are receiving during the current crisis, we nonetheless are coming together in recognition that we face similar structural problems, ones that have become particularly pronounced in the present circumstances.

The survey indicates that graduate and professional students have a number of concerns at present. Some of these are ongoing issues that have become more pronounced in recent weeks, while others are unique to the present circumstances. Our aim in describing these challenges is to make the administration aware of the unique circumstances graduate and professional students face at present and to begin a campus-wide conversation about how to address them. While solutions will come at multiple levels within the university, we urge a coordinated response to the concerns outlined below and provide preliminary suggestions for how we would like to see our concerns addressed in the immediate future. 

Section I: Concerns and needs

1. Funding

A.  Fall 2020 GTA/GRA/GOA employment: Students are increasingly anxious about being funded in the Fall, as departments restructure, research plans change, and in some cases, departments terminate significant numbers of teaching staff. Over 70% of students who took our survey said that they were at least ‘moderately concerned’ about GTA/GRA/GOA employment for this upcoming Fall. Students need guarantees from their department and the graduate school that all funding offers will be honored and that current students will receive preference over future students. Departments also must be flexible in their appointments for students who must remain away from campus. Students need immediate clarification on these matters in order to plan for housing and expenses for the fall.

B.  Program clocks and funding: Students are facing delays in completing the requirements for their degrees (e.g., in-person and lab research, internships, practicums, etc.). While these delays are inevitable, our funding clocks have not been extended. Over 70% of polled students expressed being at least moderately concerned about completing research. Accordingly,  we either need these requirements to be waived or we need a minimum extension of one year to our time-to-degree figures and our funding packages. If our time-to-degree expectations are extended without providing funding, students may not have the support they need to complete their programs and be competitive on an increasingly depressed job market.

C.  Summer funding: Many graduate students have lost alternative forms of employment or other sources of funding which have normally been used to cover the cost of summer living expenses. Over 57% of students are at least moderately concerned about summer funding, with 42% very or extremely concerned. Students without summer assistantships are in need of summer funding to cover basic living expenses. 

2. Health insurance and healthcare access 

A.  Lack of healthcare coverage for dependents: Amidst the current pandemic conditions, graduate and professional students need to be able to provide for their own health and that of their families. More than 70% of our polled students stated that access to healthcare was an issue they were at least ‘moderately concerned’ about. For students whose partners have lost their jobs, student health insurance is their sole source of health coverage. Students need the option to have affordable dependent coverage.

B.  Out of state health insurance: For various reasons, graduate and professional students have had to leave campus and/or the state, which has complications for the health coverage. It is for this reason that graduate students require adjustments to out-of-state restrictions on healthcare coverage that could prevent them from accessing healthcare services. Additionally, students who are forced to leave Arizona during this crisis for familial and financial reasons and apply for health insurance in other states should not lose their in-state residency with the University of Arizona.

C.  Access to mental health resources: Social isolation and the stress produced by chronic uncertainty have serious effects on the mental health of graduate and professional students who already suffer disproportionately from depression and anxiety. Students need accessible, effective, and affordable access to mental health resources, including counseling. 

3. Material concerns

A.  Housing: Graduate and professional students have a variety of concerns about housing. These include their ability to afford rent, which is heavily dependent on their ability to have summer and/or full fall funding. Students need to make decisions about housing now, but do not have the information to do so. Students need to know if Fall 2020 will be online as quickly as possible so they can make crucial decisions about housing and their financial situations.

B.  Food security: Student households, particularly those with children and a member who has lost their job, may be struggling with food security, as almost half of our polled students expressed at least moderate concern regarding food security. Some students have reported applying for food stamps and are considering taking out loans to pay for living expenses. Continued emergency relief funding must remain available. Students need to be informed about where to access food resources on a regular basis.

C.  Internet access: Students need reliable, high-speed internet access to continue to make progress on their goals. With the closing of all campus buildings, this may not be accessible for all students. Drive-up car-based hot spots do not support students without vehicle access, and are also uninhabitable in the summer. Economically precarious students may not be able to afford in-home wifi. As the weather shifts in Tucson, safe indoor spaces with reliable internet access are required. 

D.  Access to air-conditioning: Due to our low incomes, many students may not have access to or be able to afford air-conditioning during the summer. The intense summer heat makes it difficult, and oftentimes unsafe, to remain in spaces without climate control for long periods. Students need to be provided and informed about spaces in which they can work that will be climate-controlled. Alternatively, they need air-conditioning subsidized.

E.  Disability services: The shift to online may impact students with disabilities disproportionately. Eighteen percent of students expressed moderate to extreme concern about disability support and services. Students need to be made aware of the resources that exist for navigating these issues and be supported in making use of them. 

F.  Childcare and care for dependents: Students with children are now tasked with caring for their children while attempting to keep pace with the demands of their research and teaching. Students with children, or who are caring for elder family members or other dependents, need extra support, in terms of both money to pay for childcare and extensions to their programs. Once the campus reopens, free childcare needs to be made available to allow these students to devote their time, financial resources, and energy toward progressing on their academic and professional goals.

G.  Residency issues: Many students were abruptly forced to stop their research both abroad and in the United States. However, many were unable to return to Arizona for financial or familial reasons. These students are now facing unexpected out-of-state tuition costs. Students in these and related circumstances need to receive extensions of in-state residency status or exceptions to out-of-state rules. Given this unparalleled crisis, all graduate students who currently have in-state residency should be guaranteed in-state residency through their graduation.

4. International student concerns

A.  Visa and re-entry concerns: Students are facing and will continue to face obstacles in completing research and program requirements. This is particularly an issue for students here on visas that have a set duration. These students need to be informed about how delayed progress in their program and the possible extension of their program length will affect their visa status (or not). Visa renewal may also be complicated by the current travel bans and stay-at-home orders. Further, some students may need to travel to be with family. Students need clarification on how this travel might impact their visa status and re-entry to the US and how the University can support them in regards to these issues. The majority of international students polled expressed that they were “extremely concerned” about these issues.

B.  Living expenses and employment issues: Many international students are unable to return to their home countries during the summer due to international travel restrictions. Students on F1 visas are not permitted to seek alternative employment during the summer. These students are also not eligible for stimulus checks. As a result, affected students are in need of emergency funds to cover summer living expenses, including housing. This situation may continue into fall, if international students are only offered .25 FTE positions, may not be competitive for on-campus employment, and cannot seek off-campus employment.

C.  Remote access: International students have various concerns that may make it difficult or impossible to be on campus in the fall to continue their coursework. Respondents commented that having online classes and appointments would make it much more feasible for these students to continue in their programs, even if they must remain outside of the U.S.

Section II: Preliminary actions to be taken by the administration

While departments have proposed and enacted various responses to these concerns, our survey demonstrates that these responses are uneven and do not address the needs of all students. For this reason, we are organizing as a graduate and professional student body to bring to light these issues at the university level. While it may be the case that solutions come from different levels of the university, we believe that, in order to ensure equity and transparency, responses to graduate and professional student needs must be recognized and coordinated at the university level. Below we have outlined some preliminary steps forward to address our concerns. 

1.  Immediate action on funding: While we recognize certain concerns will take longer to address than others, we ask that the university immediately address our funding concerns. As outlined above, we urge the graduate school and administrate to immediately a) offer graduate and professional students guarantees that all funding offers will be honored and that current students will receive preference over future students, and b) guarantee graduate students a minimum extension of one year to their time-to-degree figures and funding packages, and c) release a statement that graduate students will not be directly affected by any future furloughs or layoffs.

2.  Drop of mandatory student fees for fall 2020: Due to their low incomes, graduate students already struggle to pay their semester fees. Many take temporary releases to pay them at the end of the semester due to financial strain. Further, it is difficult to pay upwards of $650/semester when graduate and professional students are often paying out of pocket for activities necessary to their professional development (e.g. conferences, fees for professional associations, funding their own field research). During Spring semester, many of the services we pay for with these fees become unavailable. The pandemic has created more financial precarity for these students, making it crucial that semester fees for 2020 for graduate and professional students are dropped.

3.  A task force: We urge the graduate college to immediately convene a task force that is dedicated to identifying and addressing graduate and professional student issues and includes graduate student representatives. This is particularly necessary, given that graduate and professional students have not been represented in any negotiations or discussions about the university’s response to the crisis, even though we are employees of this university and among  the most vulnerable and precarious. The university’s slow response to considering graduate students amidst the current crisis conveys to us that we are being overlooked and are not a priority at present. 

4.  Representation and transparency in decision making: Graduate students are concerned that we have been overlooked as stakeholders in the current conversations occurring at the university, with over 70% of students at least moderately concerned about representation, and over 80% at least moderately concerned about transparency. We request to have graduate representatives from each college present at all executive- and department-level meetings where significant decisions about university finances are being made.

5.  Communication from administration: To manage high levels of anxiety and uncertainty, graduate students need clear, regular, and timely communication from the administration that is addressed specifically to them and their concerns. Over 70% of polled students are at least moderately concerned about the lack of communication from administration. Students are navigating confusing and, at times, conflicting responses from their departments and programs and need clear communication about policies and changes affecting graduate and professional students as a whole. 

We are hopeful that with better communication and collaboration, we can identify and address issues impacting our student body. Insofar as we are well aware of the challenges we face as graduate and professional students, before and during the current crisis, we are willing to participate in these discussions to support our larger community and ensure that our collective needs are heard. We are an integral part of this university, both in terms of the intellectual energy we bring as students and the labor we contribute as instructors and GTAs/GRAs/GOAs. 

Thank you for hearing our concerns. We are hopeful that this will be the beginning of a more effective, transparent, and collaborative response to the challenges facing us.

Signed,

UA Graduate Student Coalition

uagradstudents@protonmail.com