Category: Uncategorized

Dear grads,

Yesterday the Financial Aid office emailed undergraduate students who are missing all grades for Fall 2019. This email instructed students to email the Financial Aid office with the name of the instructor for at least one of their Fall classes. According to the email, the Financial Aid office will then reach out to the instructor to confirm whether the student completed the course with a passing grade.

This email supports that our assessment of last week’s Financial Aid email was correct. It also means that:

• The January 10th deadline specified in last week’s email was not a hard deadline. The most recent email tells undergrads that they need to contact the Financial Aid office with the name of one course and the instructor’s name by January 31st. This means that the actual deadline by which the Financial Aid office needs proof of undergrads’ Fall quarter completion is even later than this. The January 10th deadline was likely given because they were expecting non-compliance and wanted to give themselves plenty of time (or, a more cynical view might hold that the administration deliberately gave us only two days to respond because they were hoping to cause panic that would undermine the strike).
• The Financial Aid office will contact students directly with details about how their aid may be impacted. This supports our stance that undergrads will have the most complete information about how they may be affected, and that we should defer to them about whether they want their grades to be submitted or not.

There is no need to officially submit grades to the Registrar in response to this email. The Financial Aid office is reaching out because they are required to confirm whether students receiving federal aid completed the previous quarter. According to federal policy, if a student earns a passing grade in at least one course during a given term, the university may presume that the student completed the course and thus completed the quarter. A letter grade is not necessary to confirm this; Financial Aid only needs to know whether the student passed at least one class. This is why the email was only sent to students missing all grades from last quarter. 

This email from Financial Aid may cause confusion and/or fear among undergrads. We encourage you to communicate openly with your students and share this information with them to help them understand how they may (or may not) be affected. We also encourage you to reiterate to your students that although you are available to answer any questions they may have, and talk through their situations with them if they so choose, they are not obligated to disclose any private information to you (including graduation date, probation status, or financial aid).

If students contact you about this, or the Financial Aid office reaches out to you or the instructor of record seeking information about these students, we suggest emailing Financial Aid using the template below.

In solidarity,

Roxy Davis, M.A.

Graduate Student, Department of Psychology

———

Dear UCSC Financial Aid Officers,

I confirm that [STUDENT’S NAME, STUDENT ID NUMBER] completed [COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE] in Fall 2019 with a passing grade (C- or higher). 

[NAME’S] actual grade will be sent to the Registrar once graduate students’ demands for a cost of living adjustment have been met.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

[TEACHING ASSISTANT or INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD] for [COURSE], Fall 2019

From UCSC Chancellor, Cynthia Larive, to UCSC Community:

January 27, 2020

In September, I shared with our community my vision for UC Santa Cruz and the four goals that would help us define success. The first two — solidifying our status as a research leader and promoting student success — go to the heart of ensuring our educational and research excellence, and are issues that I would like to address today.

Key to achieving these goals is strengthening and diversifying our graduate programs. Though graduate students in doctoral and masters of fine arts programs are supported through fellowships, research and teaching assistantships, the cost of housing in Santa Cruz County remains a financial burden for many. The ability of UC Santa Cruz to address this need is hampered because our campus ranks at the bottom of the UC system relative to the number of graduate housing units. We simply have nowhere near the number of units we need to support our graduate students.

If we are to continue to pioneer and transform research through the application of diverse perspectives, we must demonstrate our commitment by ensuring that we can attract and support the best qualified and most innovative graduate students. To that end, I am pleased to announce two new programs:

• First, beginning in fall 2020, we will offer new and continuing doctoral students support packages for five years (two years for MFA students). These packages will have a minimum level of support equivalent to that of a 50 percent teaching assistantship.
• Second, until more graduate-level student housing becomes available, we are instituting a need-based, annual housing supplement of $2,500 for doctoral and MFA students offered through a partnership between the Financial Aid Office and the Graduate Division.

These two new programs further enhance the overall financial package our doctoral and MFA students receive to assist them in their academic progress and pursuit of an advanced degree.

Also, integral to our commitment to educational excellence is our obligation to our undergraduate students, which requires that we do everything possible to ensure their success. We know that a degree from UC Santa Cruz has the potential to change the trajectory of lives. Unfortunately, recent actions by some graduate students to withhold or delete grades only hurts the very students who depend on us.

When students do not have grades, it can profoundly impact financial aid, as well as the ability of some students to enroll in needed classes, apply for graduation, or even declare a major. It also can impact requirements of student athletes, student veterans, and those under academic review. Withholding grades also makes it more difficult for us to work together on tangible steps that we can take to help address the core, underlying issue — our lack of affordable housing.

UC Santa Cruz has a proud history of activism, and the university is committed to ensuring that all people may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, and assembly. And while I commend our students for drawing attention to a very real problem, I am extremely disappointed that some graduate students chose to do so in a way that was unsanctioned by their union and is harmful to our undergraduate students, many of whom are struggling themselves. As this grade strike continues, I am deeply concerned about the impact on undergraduates. Therefore, graduate students who do not submit grades by Feb. 2, 2020, will receive a written disciplinary warning in accordance with the UC/UAW contract. Students alleged to have deleted grades will receive a student conduct summons.

A lack of affordable housing is not a problem unique to Santa Cruz. It is endemic to California. I sympathize with students who are impacted by the lack of affordable housing locally, as well as the generally high cost of living here. I believe the introduction of these two new programs demonstrates a commitment to our graduate students and will make a significant and tangible impact on their lives.

There is no doubt that more work needs to be done and I’m looking forward to collaborating on new ways of addressing ongoing problems. UC Santa Cruz is on a great trajectory and I’m confident that by working together we will be able to continue to achieve educational and research excellence.