STATEMENT FROM THE CGS PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dear Colleagues,

Recent days and weeks have brought us heart-wrenching reminders of race-based inequality and injustice. In addition to COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on students of color and their families, we have witnessed appalling acts of racism and violence toward African Americans—most recently George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade—acts that cause further distress and fear among communities already suffering. 

The CGS Board of Directors condemns both the deeply embedded and structural forms of racism and injustice we see around us as well as their most immediate manifestations. We also stand in solidarity with people of color in our community as they confront painful examples of violence and injustice.

We also acknowledge that words are not enough.  As an organization, we affirm our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion at all levels of graduate education. We will continue working with our members to make programs more diverse and accessible, to promote diversity as a principle that supports the learning of all students, to deepen our understanding of inclusive mentoring practices, and to provide inclusive and accessible student support services. 

Of equal importance, we commit to helping our students develop the conceptual frameworks and analytic methods necessary to understand social and economic forms of injustice, in all their manifestations.  We also commit to helping them develop the leadership skills necessary to begin building a better, more just society.  To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, we must create graduate programs and institutional cultures that prepare students to be the change this world so desperately needs.

If you have suggestions for how CGS can better support this work, please contact president@cgs.nche.edu.

In solidarity with you, your staff, and your students,

Suzanne T. Ortega
President
Council of Graduate Schools

Sally Pratt 
Chair, CGS Board of Directors (2020)
Vice Provost for Graduate Programs University of Southern California
on behalf of the CGS Board of Directors

JUNE 3, 2020 | CGS Research-in-Brief

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) fielded the Survey on the Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Graduate Education to its member institutions. The survey was electronically disseminated to 456 CGS Regular Member institutions based in the United States and Canada between May 4 and 11, 2020.  A total of 201 responses, or the response rate of 44%, was recorded.  Public institutions, as well as Doctoral Universities-Very High Research Activity (R1) institutions, were overrepresented among the respondents.  The below brief summarizes the aggregated, unweighted findings from the survey. The full frequency tables, including the questionnaire items and descriptive characteristics of responding institutions, can be found in the appendix.          

Immediate Plans & Decisions Made to Date

• Roughly three out of four graduate deans (76%) noted that their institutions had formed a campus task force or committee of stakeholders addressing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on graduate education.     

• Of the respondents, 64% of graduate deans reported that their institutions had adopted holistic approaches to graduate admissions before the pandemic or have since instructed individual graduate programs to adopt holistic approaches in future graduate admissions decisions.  A little over one out of five (22%) reported that their institutions have not decided on how the pass/fail or similar grade schemes for Spring 2020 will be factored into the graduate admission processes, however.  

Check out the CGS statement on graduate admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• The majority of graduate deans reported that they do not anticipate changes to current policies (18%) or are granting extensions on a case-by-case basis (47%).  Fewer institutions (14%) indicated that their institutions have either granted an automatic extension or are granting extensions on a case-by-case basis.  

• The pandemic has also affected some of the key summer activities for graduate schools. Of the graduate deans who responded and were aware of such decisions, 87% reported that dissertation camps or other place-based writing retreats for graduate students this summer had been modified to an alternative format. 21% noted that summer bridge and other placed-based outreach programs for URM and master’s students had been modified. Also, nearly two-thirds (66%) reported that they had modified the delivery mode of fall orientation.

Has your institution transitioned dissertation camps or other place-based writing retreats for graduate students to a virtual format?  Share with you colleagues how you have done it!

Check out the CGS webinar, Moving to a Virtual Space: How to Create Virtual Graduate Student Orientations.

How are you planning for virtual new student orientations?  What will you be doing over the summer to stay in touch with incoming graduate students?  Share with your colleagues what you are planning!

• Many graduate deans (87%) reported that their institutions have or anticipate budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the vast majority of them also noted that their institutions are committed to honoring all accepted financial support offers made to incoming graduate students (67%) and all financial support for commitments made to current/returning students (74%).  Although relatively few, there are some institutions that have rescinded or given individual program discretions to rescind graduate student financial support to meet the budgetary shortfalls for both incoming (5%) and current/returning students (7%). 

• At the time of the survey, a number of graduate deans reported that either their institutions had not distributed any direct student aid through the CARES Act or do not know if aid was made available to graduate students.

Keep yourself apprised of federal policy updates related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as sign up to receive our weekly Washington Insights & Highlights. 

Outlook for AY2020/21 and Priorities

• Graduate deans responding to the survey reported a range of anticipated enrollment levels for Fall 2020. Still, they expect a modest decline in the overall enrollment, as well as in enrollment of domestic, underrepresented minorities. Graduate deans reported a more pessimistic outlook for international graduate enrollment in Fall 2020. 

• Looking toward Academic Year 2020/2021, graduate deans responding to the survey are more optimistic about their institution’s ability to provide training, support, or resources for stakeholders of graduate education to navigate the crisis. For example, graduate deans are somewhat/moderately confident about providing adequate training for graduate teaching assistant teaching online (Average=3.51 out of 5), graduate faculty teaching and mentoring graduate students virtually (Average=3.47/5), and supporting administrators and departmental staff members to help graduate students (Average=3.37/5).  

• However, graduate deans in the survey were less confident about their institution’s ability to allocate adequate resources to engage in international outreach or recruitment activities (Average=2.29/5) or maintain the level of available financial support for graduate student travel and other professional development activities (Average=2.45/5).  They were also less confident that their institutions can ensure graduate students having access to experiential learning opportunities, such as internships and clinical training (Average=2.70/5).  

Be sure to register for the upcoming virtual Summer Workshop, learn from experts and your peers about how to navigate some of the challenges, such as supporting international graduate students, offering career development opportunities and experiential learning opportunities for graduate students during the pandemic. 

• Finally, graduate deans in the survey identified protecting funds for grant aid, assistantships, fellowships, and other financial support for graduate students as the top priority in the wake of the pandemic and its impact on the institution’s budget. This was followed by protecting resources for supporting graduate students' basic needs during the crisis and offering graduate students support for coping with psychological challenges associated with this crisis.

• Although graduate deans were not as confident in their institution’s ability to do so, few of them identified engaging international outreach and recruitment activities or maintaining funds for graduate student travels and other professional development activities as a high priority area for protecting resources.

CGS also offers various platforms for member institutions to learn from each other as we navigate the pandemic together, and we encourage you to bookmark our COVID-19 resource page as a one-stop shop. The page features various U.S. government guidance, as well as resources page put together by some of the CGS member institutions. You can also directly engage other CGS members via the Dean’s Discussion Board, where you can ask questions to your peers and also to weigh in on questions from others.

Author Contribution and Acknowledgment

The brief was prepared by Hironao Okahana. CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega, the Leadership Team, Research Team, and Research and Information Services Committee provided feedback to the data collection instrument, as well as on the write-up. Enyu Zhou and Janet Gao contributed to the preparation of the annotated questionnaire document. 

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CGS Supports the Endless Frontier Act

On June 1, CGS sent letters to House and Senate lawmakers endorsing the Endless Frontier Act (H.R. 6978/S. 3832). Introduced by Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Todd Young (R-IN), the legislation provides significant investments in the National Science Foundation with an expanded focus on new technology. Funding for additional fellowships and traineeships would support undergraduate and graduate students.

“Hispanic Serving Institutions: A Critical Pipeline to Graduate School for Latinx Students” is an information brief and interactive toolkit designed to help close the gap in graduate degree attainment for Latinx students. The project was led by JoAnn Canales, CGS’s Dean-In-Residence from 2018 through 2019. Dr. Canales’ work underscores how the graduate enrollment and degree attainment of Latinx students continues to lag behind those of other groups. The project identified Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) - defined as accredited, degree-granting public or private non-profit institutions of higher education with at least 25% full-time equivalent undergraduate students who identify as Hispanic - as a possible vanguard to lead the higher education community as they address this disparity. 

The brief is accompanied by a set of checklists looking at how Latinx students can be more successfully recruited, retained, and supported during various phases of the graduate student lifecycle. These checklists are not only designed as a complimentary framework to the brief, but also to provide administrators with a tool to help assess and implement the resources needed to improve Latinx student outcomes.  

Additional CGS Resources

Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion 

Innovation in Graduate Admissions Through Holistic Review 

The Global Postgraduate Diversity Resource - A CGS-ETS Joint Initiative

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, 2008-2018

Building a Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, and Inclusive Graduate Community: A Statement of Principles

Contact

Julia Kent

CGS Summary of Select Provisions in the HEROES Act (5/18/20)

On May 15, the House of Representatives passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800) as a framework for a fifth COVID-19 relief package. CGS has complied a summary of certain higher education and research provisions as a member resource.

CGS Supports the HEROES Act (5/14/20)

On May 14, CGS joined a higher education community letter in support of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800). The bill provides approximately $3 trillion in economic relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CGS Supports the American Opportunity Student Tax Relief Act (5/6/2020)

On May 7, CGS joined its higher education colleagues in supporting a bill introduced by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) that would ensure emergency grants to students from the CARES Act are not taxed and makes improvements to the AOTC program.

CGS Letter to DHS and DOS on International Graduate Students (5/13/2020)

On May 13, CGS sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State with recommendations and seeking additional guidance on issues related to the international graduate student pipeline during COVID-19.

Contact:

Katherine Hazelrigg: (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC - In mid-April, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) received a letter from student body presidents and leaders at 157 universities requesting formal acknowledgment of the “unprecedented challenges undergraduates have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic” and recognition of a set of principles regarding admissions policies. In response, CGS released the following statement on graduate admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The past few weeks have been filled with new challenges and extreme uncertainty for undergraduate and graduate students. Nevertheless, postsecondary students have shown extraordinary resilience during this time, balancing their studies and research in an online environment with personal responsibilities and planning for an unpredictable future.

Given the extraordinary disruptions we’re experiencing as a community, it’s important to ensure that our admissions practices continue to be as fair and transparent as possible. While CGS is not in a position to direct university graduate admissions policies, we encourage the graduate education community to continue to consider the impact of COVID-19 on students; to be flexible regarding existing deadlines, policies, and procedures; and to regularly communicate with both current and prospective students to reassure them of our support.

This guidance is consistent with the Council’s support and advocacy for holistic file review practices. Since we began our holistic admissions work in 2015, we have encouraged graduate programs to consider a broad range of candidate qualities when assessing graduate school applications rather than using strict GPA or standardized test score cutoffs. Determining a prospective graduate student’s potential to succeed in a program requires an evaluation of a broad range of attributes.

The principles of holistic review have special importance at a time when social and economic disparities are becoming starker. Undue emphasis on the quantifiable measures of academic achievement may disproportionately affect students who are managing greater responsibilities—including financial burdens-- during this time, including underrepresented minorities and women. Examining the fullest range of student qualities possible, and placing scores and GPA’s in the broader context of a student’s personal and intellectual qualities, will help us assess all candidates more fairly.

Several CGS members have already issued formal statements to reassure prospective graduate students of their commitment to holistic file review, and some graduate schools suggest students consider addressing their unique challenges and experiences during the pandemic in their personal statements. These statements explicitly address student concerns regarding changes to university grading policies from designated letter grades to a P/F or S/U system for this semester. CGS encourages all members to take the opportunity to emphasize holistic review as a good admissions practice that benefits programs, institutions, and students under any circumstances.”

CGS Joins Community Letter to Agencies on Value of International Students (4/30/20)

On April 30, 2020, CGS joined 61 additional higher education associations on a letter to the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Labor expressing the value international students bring to the United States. This letter follows President Trump’s executive order to temporarily suspend immigration.