UPDATE March 3 : So here’s the total expenses the grad school expects a master’s student to pay.
And here is my follow-up letter to the administrator who told me “the situation is unfortunate, but funding is not available” and that various diversity offices and approved
Dear Professor X,
thank you for your kind and thoughtful response.
Clearly, most masters' programs nationwide were never designed to consider the needs of first-gen students of color, so it makes sense that even our diversity offices have no choice but to affirm the status quo when funding offers are made. There simply are no full-tuition waivers, and never have been.
Thank you also for understanding my letter blamed not you, but the outdated approach that fails to serve FLI students and your unit’s diversity goals. In your new position (congrats) you have the opportunity to lead schools around the nation to open new funding pathways for students like Mr. F, whom your unit hopes will present them well in the field.
Consider that a student like Mr. F who hopes to go into education policy, may benefit from the coursework, but will still have to seek an additional credential when he returns to work in his home school district of Ferguson, MO. Why burden him with debt for a degree that fails to certify him for his intended profession? How is the your degree more beneficial than other masters on campus, which offer special pathways for FLI students. With no credential, he might as well take any variety of masters that funds him before he returns to Ferguson to get his credential.
Now is the time build those long overdue TA lines, Research fellowships, and tuition waivers modeled on units around campus. There are many collaboration possibilities on and off campus. I am grateful that you realize the importance of protecting our most vulnerable students and ensuring their ability to lead in the future of diverse education. I know you would write a letter like mine for your own students as well.
Eager to hear what can be done for Mr. F.
Best wishes,
Ruth
Actual letter emailed today, names removed.
Dear Professor ___
I am delighted to hear that my student, Mr.___ was accepted to the ___ 's highly competitive ____program. However, I feel deeply dismayed to learn that he was only offered the dismal amount of $1000 tuition reduction per quarter over an entire year of coursework.
To be sure, Masters programs remain notoriously expensive and offer little funding for students, which is why so few Black, first-gen students apply for these programs. Given this longstanding financial norm that works against the true diversity the program hopes to advertise, I fail to understand, how, in all good conscience, I could advise my student to go into debt over the master's degree your academic unit offers.
Your unit will profit from using Mr. _____ ‘s Black first-gen identity as proof of your diversity, while he will be indentured with debt that will take him at least a decade to pay off, were he to go into education. Please do not revert with platitudes about how education remains "under-valued" and that only the "truly committed" are willing to take this vow of poverty. Were the ___ truly committed to diversity, you would not offer such an insulting low stipend for first-gen Black students.
Nothing here I say is news for you. A real policy change is needed. It is time the____ offers more paths of tuition remission and TAships for this fellowship. In the meantime, I very much hope that you can improve Mr. ____ financial support.
Otherwise, it would be much more worth his time to take a masters in a different unit that in fact supports FLI, Black students.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ruth A. Starkman