The University of Chicago has recently announced a plan to provide an additional $50 million for graduate student stipends and a measure to expedite the time to degree completion for doctoral students.

The graduate college at the University of Illinois was awarded $100,000 in 2004 by the Council of Graduate Schools for the “Ph.D. Completion Project,” which also concerns time to degree and degree completion.

The project aims to “facilitate early research experiences for graduate students” and “create open dialogue between students and the graduate college,” according its Web site.

Currently, the Graduate Employee Organization and the University are in tentative agreement regarding wages and benefits.

“On the one hand, it’s good to push people through. On the other, it puts more pressure on the students, who already feel that they’re under the gun,” said Toby Higbie, assistant professor in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations and former GEO president.

Higbie said that time to degree completion can greatly affect one’s debt upon graduation.

“The longer time you’re going, the more opportunities you have to borrow,” said Higbie.

One of the main goals of Chicago’s movement to greater funding is to lend greater support for the first five years, said Martha Roth, deputy provost for research and education at the University of Chicago.

“The hard thing is, life happens,” said Roth. She said starting a family and other considerations can elongate the length of time to degree.

“We want students to have as much of a jump start as possible and no debt at the beginning,” she added.

The academy reproduces itself via graduate study, said Higbie, and that is why it’s vital to take care of graduate students.

“If you don’t have an enlightened administration, it helps to have a union to do what’s in the best interest of the University,” Higbie said.

He added that graduate students make a school look better and also attract research money and alumni donations, such as the recent $100 Million BP Grant.

The Graduate Employee Organization deals mainly with employment issues, but there is a definite interplay between scholarship and employment for graduates, said Andrew O Baoill, co-president of the GEO.

“A major factor in people’s time to completion are financial issues,” O Baoill said.

Many administrations will bundle financial issues with a variety of issues, such as feeling valued by the University, O Baoill said.

“Financial issues are the quantifiable part,” O Baoill said. “Not being able to pay the electricity bill, wondering if you can go to the emergency room – these effect your ability to complete graduate school in a reasonable amount of time.”

Graduate students enable colleges to “do what they do” by conducting much of the research at the University and also teach 30 percent of the classes.

“Continuous gains don’t come from administrative charity but the organized action of those affected, the graduate union movement,” O Baoill said.