Only a small portion of the tuition hike planned for next year will go to hiring more teaching assisants and expository writing teachers, according to University administrators.
Adam Falk, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, explained that only a small percentage of the 5.9-percent increase per student is dedicated to such adjustments as increasing the number of teaching assistants.
The University determines how much they will increase tuition in part by a measurement similar to the Consumer Price Index called Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). The most recent data for HEPI (for the year 2006) listed the inflation in prices for higher education at 5 percent.
"Our tuition increase is a little bit larger than HEPI (less than a percentage point, corresponding to about $300 per student) because there are some things we need to augment compared to last year. There are many of these, and none of them is dominant," Falk said.
"One of them, indeed, is to hire more TAs in classes that have larger undergraduate enrollments. But it would be overstating things dramatically to say that this is by itself a driver
of tuition."
The extra 0.9 percent increase per student leveling to approximately $300 each is dedicated to such endeavors as an increasing number of TAs. When asked precisely how many more TAs will be hired, Falk claimed, "We are not yet in a position to know the answers to those questions."
However, Nick Jones, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, adds that this additional money "means that the school will increase its budget for graduate stipends."
In one study for 2006-2007, Hopkins ranked 10th for graduate stipends at $25,200. Harvard was ranked 2nd with $28,008.
"Graduate stipends are distressingly low. Although I do not know yet what they will be next year, I am looking hard for money for an increase that would at least let us start catching up to our peers," Falk said. "The Board of Trustees does not get into the level of detail where it would approve the number of TAs or the level of graduate stipends."
However, he would not say whether they had already allotted a specific amount of additional money to graduate stipends.
Falk explained that the reason Brown, Yale, Harvard, Duke and Hopkins increases tuition around 5 percent each year is due to annual inflation in operating costs for universities.
"The most recent data on the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), for fiscal 2006, is precisely 5 percent. The HEPI is analogous to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), but for universities," Falk said. "Recall that the CPI measures the increase in cost of a `basket' of goods that reflects the purchases one needs to make to run a household - food, energy, housing, clothing, etc. The HEPI differs from the CPI in that the `basket' is different -- for example, we don't buy much clothing to run Arts & Sciences, but we buy a LOT of healthcare!"
For example, the Organic Chemistry II lecture currently has 14 teaching assistants serving more than 470 students. Although the school has pursued impressive measures to compensate for the large class enrollment, many students fear teaching assistants will only lead to less individual interaction with professors.
"Last semester the professor was a lot more available fore extra help than this time around," freshman Alexia Simmonard said."It may have to do with the fact that there are a lot of TAs ... Maybe having a lot of TAs give him the excuse to not have a lot of student interaction."
"More TAs wouldn't mean more large ... classes; rather it would mean teaching the large service ... better," Falk said.
However, the vast amount of large classes at Hopkins contributed to the university's drop from the top 15 in the US News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2007. Sliding from 13 to 16, Hopkins was demoted for faculty resources, which include many factors such as the number of classes under 20 students.
"We are not so concerned with national rankings, but rather the quality of the educational experience for students enrolled in our classes. If we address this as best we can, ranking should follow," said John Toscano, Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department. "The number of available teaching assistants does not determine class size. The Chemistry Department has been dealing with greatly expanding enrollments in our introductory courses over the past few years; this is a major factor affecting class size."
Hopkins has been taking measures to improve the employment of TAs. Last year, Hopkins launched a pilot program that implemented multiple workshops to enhance TA training.
There are currently 2,000 graduate students in the schools of Arts & Sciences and Engineering, and the majority will be TAs at some point in their Hopkins careers.
"One moment they are a student, and the next they are thrown in front of the class. It can be very daunting," said Allyson McCabe, a director at the Center for Educational Resources.
The Commission on Undergraduate Education's final report included a note to "increase support for faculty and graduate students in teaching effectiveness."
According to the deans of the School of Engineering and the School of Arts & Sciences, Hopkins simply needs more funds to sharpen the indispensable employment of TAs.
Coupled with the increasing student enrollment at Hopkins, the university is adjusting current program costs to support areas of academic and student life, including hiring more expository writing lecturers and more teaching assistants. <?p>
