A Comparison of Stipends, Health Insurance, and Tuition Remission Policies at Fisheries and Wildlife Graduate Programs throughout the United States

摘要

Many factors should be considered before selecting a graduate program to attend. Graduate education can be expensive, so financial and health care benefits offered by a department or college should be considered when selecting a graduate program. A majority of fisheries graduate students recently surveyed believed that financial aspects should be an important consideration in selecting a graduate program. Therefore, our objective was to estimate the range of stipends, tuition remission, and health care benefits provided to students in graduate programs that offer training in wildlife andfisheries disciplines across the United States. Thirty-one out of 70 schools (44%) from across the United States responded to our online survey. Doctoral and master's student stipends were highly variable among programs and appointments (research v. teaching assistants). Over half of the universities offered full tuition remission (67%), and of those that did not, most (97 %) offered at least partial tuition remission. On-campus health care was the most common health care benefit offered to graduate students. Though traditional factors for selecting a graduate school (such as desirability of graduate research topic/question, program reputation, and suitability of the advisor) may override financial considerations, financial benefits may be a critical component when choosing a graduate program.