Contact:
Julia Kent
jkent@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, DC — Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) President Debra W. Stewart today released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on February 12, 2013. CGS is the only national organization dedicated solely to the advancement of graduate education and research. The organization draws its institutional members from colleges and universities significantly engaged in graduate education, research, and scholarship culminating in the award of the master's or doctoral degree.

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) applauds President Obama’s continued focus on increasing American competitiveness in the world economy and appreciates the recognition that access to higher education will play a major role in that effort.

CGS stands strongly behind the President’s commitment to strengthen our economy through investments in research and innovation, expanded access to advanced education opportunities, and increased support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training. To summarize the President’s point, “To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require.”

While calling for investments in these critical areas, the President also warned of the impact of looming sequester cuts on our recovering economy and on our ability to compete globally. CGS shares the President’s concerns when he said, “These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would … devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

CGS also supports the President’s call for immigration reform and urges the Administration and Congress to recognize the importance of retaining talented international students and their role in keeping our economy competitive. To harness this talent and maximize our economy’s dynamism, CGS calls on the Administration and Congress to reduce visa barriers that discourage the most talented international students from attending U.S. graduate schools and creating jobs and businesses after they graduate.

With bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill already underway, President Obama spoke of the broader support for reform by stating, “Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Recent research on skilled immigration and innovation shows that domestic as well as international students make a significant, positive impact on U.S. university research productivity (Stuen et. al). Research from the fall of 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, indicate that domestic enrollment is now in a second year of decline, with decreases of first-time domestic enrollment in fields key to U.S. innovation: Engineering, Biological Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science. With that in mind, CGS urges the President to support policies that seek to bolster enrollment for graduate education for both foreign and domestic talent. As other countries have already recognized through their investments in graduate education, innovation will require highly trained US citizens as well as foreign talent. Shrinking university budgets and rising student debt loads conspire to deny US employers access to this domestic talent.

As President Obama seeks to realize his most ambitious goals for our nation in his second term, CGS looks forward to playing a vital role in ensuring U.S. graduate schools are promoting a creative, innovative workforce that helps ready our country to meet the challenges of the 21st century global economy.

What is Sequestration?

The budget sequester is a process that includes automatic, across-the- board budget cuts. Sequestration was intended to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.  These cuts are set to take place on January 2, 2013.

How is Sequestration Related to Discussions About the Fiscal Cliff?

The fiscal cliff is the concept that is used to refer to the combined effects of the ending of a number of tax cuts for individuals and businesses, the beginning of some taxes, and the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that are known as sequestration.

What is Known About the Impact of Sequestration on Graduate Education?

• At this time, all figures that have been released in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Report on Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 are preliminary estimates. The estimates give indications about the magnitude of cuts that may be made by Congress if a balanced budget that achieves the necessary reductions is not produced.
• It has been estimated that if sequestration occurs, there will be a reduction of 8.25% in 2013 on discretionary nondefense appropriations
• The following are estimated budget cuts that are of interest to the graduate education community:
   

      U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Program: -$186 million

                Office of Federal Student Aid: -$254 million

                Pell Grants: exempt from sequestration

      U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science: -$400 million

      National Institutes of Health: -$2.5 billion

The NIH budget cuts due to sequestration can translate into approximately 2,400 fewer research project grants made to universities and institutes throughout the country.

National Science Foundation Research and Related Activities: -$469 million

               Education & Human Resources: -$ 76 million

The NSF would fund 1,600 fewer research and education grants which would be equivalent to approximately 19, 300 fewer researchers, students, and technical support personnel than FY 12.

Some of the Effects of Sequestration on Graduate Education

• There are expected to be significant decreases in the numbers of research grants, fellowships, and other funding for graduate education.
• The diminished economic climate due to sequestration can have adverse impacts on the numbers of individuals who apply to and are granted admission to graduate schools. Sequestration slows and inhibits job creation.
• Sequestration slows and inhibits job creation.
• Sequestration slows and inhibits economic growth.

The Council of Graduate Schools congratulates President Obama and the new Congress on their recent election. In the coming weeks, federal policymakers will begin to focus on a number of the country’s critical economic and social issues. While pressing economic issues such as the fiscal cliff must be addressed, policymakers must take a longer view and focus on investments that are necessary to maintain our capacity for innovation, the foundation of a vibrant economy and job creation. 

For many decades, U.S. graduate education has been a key driver of the nation’s economic strength. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs to lower-cost producers overseas, a high level of technical skills and a capacity for innovation, fueled by the graduate education system, have allowed the U.S. to remain competitive and retain an important role in global economic leadership. Our graduate schools and their research facilities have been consistently ranked among the best in the world (e.g. Times of London Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Rankings) and from 1997-2009 over half of the Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, physics, medicine, and economics had received their graduate degrees in the U.S.

Yet for a variety of reasons, the U.S. risks losing its dominant position among graduate education systems worldwide. The 2011-2012 period marked the second year of decline in new graduate enrollments, and these declines are driven by broad-based declines in domestic enrollment across most fields. Meanwhile, Europe has made major strides in restructuring its graduate education programs and in 2000 produced more doctorates in science and engineering than the U.S. Countries with rapidly growing economies, such as China and India, are also investing substantially in improving their graduate education systems as well as the undergraduate programs that feed graduate programs. In order for the U.S. to keep pace with its global counterparts and remain competitive, long-term investments in higher education, particularly graduate education and research and development, are imperative.

Investments in U.S. graduate education have a direct impact on our ability to sustain and develop a highly-skilled U.S. workforce. At a recent Congressional hearing, a representative from Microsoft reported that in August 2012, his company had more than 3,400 unfilled research and engineering positions in the U.S., a 34% increase in the number of unfilled positions compared to a year ago. Many other IT companies face a similar situation. 

Some elements of the graduate education agenda are achievable in the near term through policy initiatives or reprioritization and enhanced leveraging of funding strategies. Sustaining U.S. competitiveness in the longer term will require the effective use of some new resources that set a target for future investments in an improved and more robust economy. The essential components of a national graduate education strategy include the following recommended actions:

1. Prioritize Financing of Graduate Education

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 2.6 million new and replacement jobs are expected to require an advanced degree between 2010 and 2020. Yet the Budget Control Act of 2011 eliminated the in-school interest subsidy for graduate and professional students, creating an additional barrier to graduate study for many Americans. Currently, graduate students are paying 6.8 percent on unsubsidized federal loans while undergraduate students retain eligibility for subsidized federal loans at a rate of 3.4%. The effect of this new policy makes it more expensive for students to pursue graduate studies at the very time the country needs to develop more highly skilled talent. Going forward, federal policymakers must provide support for students to pursue graduate degrees in areas of national need so that the country will have the innovation capacity necessary to compete in the global economy. Principles that should guide the development of policies to support graduate students include:

• Targeting support to students pursuing graduate degrees in areas of national need including energy, cybersecurity, climate change, health care, area studies and foreign language expertise among others. 
• Ensuring that graduate students do not pay higher interest rates than undergraduate students. 
• Providing funding for graduate students that is linked to indicators of success including completion and job placement.
• Reforming U.S. tax policy to include provisions that support graduate education. Specifically the U.S. should retain tax policies that exempt graduate fellowships and scholarships from taxation along with those that encourage employers to provide financial support to employees to pursue graduate education (Section 127).

2. Implement a COMPETES doctoral traineeship program

The federal government should provide incentives to students to pursue doctoral study in areas of national need while simultaneously strengthening doctoral training more broadly. A strategic investment would be to significantly increase support for graduate education through implementation of a COMPETES doctoral traineeship program. The program should begin with supporting 5,000 new graduate students per year in fields associated with areas of national need, an investment amounting to $325 million in year one and increasing to a steady expenditure of $1.625 billion per year as the program reaches its steady state. This type of program was endorsed in a recent report from the National Research Council, Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation’s Prosperity and Security. The program is needed to develop highly skilled talent and is essential if we are to revitalize the U.S. innovation system and keep the nation competitive in the global economy. Given the current fiscal environment, creative ways of moving forward on this program could include rededication of some current federal funds for doctoral education, enhanced cost sharing by corporate stakeholders, or launching the program as a pilot to assess the initial merits and impacts of a new funding mechanism.

3. Establish Visa Policies designed to retain international talent in the U.S.

U.S. graduate schools continue to attract the best and brightest domestic and international students despite increased competition and investments in graduate education in other countries and regions of the world. Several policy proposals have been put forward in Congress to streamline the process for those international students who receive graduate degrees, particularly in STEM fields, who want to remain in the U.S. and contribute to our economy. Federal policymakers should adopt a 21^st century visa policy to retain talented international scholars who receive graduate degrees from U.S. graduate schools to help bolster our economy and spur job creation.

4. Establish a Professional Plus Program for graduate students on research assistantships

In recognition of the need to strengthen the preparation of graduate students for careers both in and beyond the academy, graduate schools have begun to initiate professional development programs for graduate students, but a key challenge is the lack of capacity within the university to provide these services, especially to graduate students funded on research assistantships. These students are well-prepared in their disciplines, but they must be provided with the opportunity to develop the full range of professional skills such as communication, project management and teamwork that will prepare them for the variety of career options open to them. Employers expect these skills of new hires and graduate students recognize the need to be better prepared for the careers they pursue.

Federal agencies should develop a Professional Plus Program which would provide supplemental support for student enhancement on any grants on which graduate research assistantships are funded. This funding would support professional development programs for all graduate students engaged in research projects with faculty. This type of professional development would be invaluable in terms of preparing researchers with a broader set of skills increasingly needed for research careers of the future. Attention also should be paid to broadening participation in graduate education to mirror the expanding diversity of the U.S. population and to promote opportunities for international research engagement of U.S. students.

5. Support development of Master’s degree programs designed to meet workforce needs

The federal government should authorize a new federal competitive grant program across agencies to build capacity at universities to inspire innovation in master’s degree programs and responsiveness to workforce needs.

Each successful program would be required to demonstrate maintenance of enrollment, completion rates, and job placement outcomes as well as ongoing involvement by employers to ensure that programs produce graduates for local, state, regional and national workforce needs. Programs will be required to secure at least two-thirds of program funding from sources other than the federal government. When fully implemented, this program would support development of 1,000 new or reinvented master’s programs, including professional master’s program in key areas at a broad range of 4-year institutions of higher education. Each institution would be eligible for a one-time $500,000 5-year grant to support 200 grants per year.

6. Establish a National Goal to increase the proportion of Americans with Graduate Degrees by 2020

The U.S. has embarked on a goal to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. This is an important and laudable goal that is necessary to develop the talent the nation needs. Undergraduate education provides students with foundational knowledge and skills, offers graduates a range of employment options, and is important to the creation of a stable economy. However, U.S. graduate education cultivates advanced skills, scientific and technological leadership, and expertise which undergird innovation in a broad range of fields. Now is the time to expand the goal on undergraduate education by taking the next step and investing in U.S. graduate education as a strategic national asset with an increased emphasis on preparing students for employment opportunities serving societal needs and economic development. In the U.S., 38% of higher education expenditures come from public sources, and 62% are from private sources. What is more, 45% of expenditures on higher education in the U.S. come from households. By comparison, across all Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, 70% of expenditures on higher education come from public sources, and 30% are from private sources.

For these reasons, we encourage the Administration to establish a national goal to increase the proportion of Americans with graduate degrees by 2020. This companion goal to the undergraduate one would create a pathway system for students that would put them and the country on the right track to prepare the highly skilled talent necessary to maintain our innovation, competitiveness and national security.

In summary, the historic partnership between higher education and government has produced much of the economic success we have experienced over the past 60 years. Like all partnerships, this one must be nourished if it is to continue to thrive. Federal support for graduate education and research must be sustained and aligned with key national goals. 

The Council of Graduate Schools and its 495 U.S. member institutions of higher education stand ready to work with the new Administration to maintain our world-class graduate education system. We will fully support new strategies for developing the talent we need to be economically competitive and secure in the 21^st century global economy.

CGS signed onto a community letter organized by the Coalition For International Education and sent to the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Management and Budget urging "a partial but robust restoration of funding to $109,96 million: $100.25 million for Title VI and $9.71 million for Fulbright-Hays" for FY 2014. The Department of Education's International Education and Foreign Language Studies programs of the Higher Education Act, Title VI and Fulbright-Hays support all levels of education and research broadly and ensure the nation's ability to develop and sustain the capacity for global leadership.

Click here to read the letter in its entirety.

CGS signed on to the Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin amicus brief that was filed by ACE in early August on behalf of the higher education community. The brief was submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and urged the court to reaffirm that it is constitutional to consider race and ethnicity among other factors in the admissions process.

For the full text of the brief, please click here.

CGS signed on to a higher education community letter organized by the American Council on Education (ACE) to the Senate Committee on Finance and the Committee on Ways and Means which expressed strong support for the extension of expired or expiring higher education tax incentives including Section 127, Employer-Provided Educational Assistance benefits which allows an employer to offer an employee up to $5,250 per year in tax-free educational assistance for undergraduate or graduate-level courses. The extension of these tax provisions, which are set to expire at the end of 2012, will increase the accessibility of higher education for millions of Americans.

To read the full letter, please click here. 

CGS signed a letter that was submitted by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) to the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding FY 2013 funding for the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill.  The letter urged rejection of attempts to reduce NSF funding and underscored the need to “protect the integrity of the scientific enterprise by ensuring that NSF and its independent scientific panels determine where the best scientific opportunities are and how to absorb any potential reductions in its budget.”

To read the full letter, please click here.

CGS signed a letter that was submitted by the American Council on Education (ACE) to the Senate Appropriations Committee which expressed strong support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and urged rejection of reductions in funding or restriction of NSF support for political or other sciences.

To read the full letter, please click here.

Contact:
Julia Kent
jkent@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

CGS President, Debra W. Stewart, issued the following statement on the National Research Council’s June 2012 report, Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation’s Prosperity and Security.

Washington, D.C.  ̶  The Council of Graduate Schools commends the National Research Council for its thorough review of the role of U.S. research universities in enhancing the nation’s prosperity and security.  The report’s ten breakthrough actions affirm priorities identified by the U.S. graduate community and other key stakeholders, in particular, the need to build U.S. global competitiveness through strategic investments in U.S. graduate institutions, with a focus on the role of doctoral education in preparing highly skilled talent.

We strongly endorse the recommendation to support graduate education through a balanced program of fellowships, traineeships and research assistantships, specifically by providing federal support for an initial 5,000 new graduate students per year based on assessments of national need.  This recommendation is consistent with findings and recommendations from the 2010 CGS-ETS report, The Path Forward:  The Future of Graduate Education in the United States. Among other things, that report recommended the creation of a COMPETES Doctoral Traineeship program focused on areas of national need, with the goal of developing the highly skilled talent that can sustain and revitalize U.S. innovation.

A 2012 report, Pathways through Graduate School and Into Careers, recommended greater collaboration among key stakeholders in business, higher education and public policy, to support the nation’s graduate education system, a strategic national asset.  We are pleased that the need for enhanced collaboration among leaders in business and higher education to support U.S. research universities is also echoed in Research Universities and the Future of America.

CGS also applauds the NRC’s recommendations to increase the participation of domestic students in graduate education, particularly those from under-represented groups in the STEM education pipeline, while also ensuring the continued participation of international students and scholars in U.S. educational programs. The ability to recruit and develop talent both domestically and globally has been an essential ingredient in the success of U.S. institutions and the U.S. research enterprise. Strategic efforts to build this capacity become even more important in the context of globalization, especially as other countries redouble their efforts to build and recruit highly-skilled talent.

In conclusion, we urge federal and state policymakers to heed the report’s recommendations to make investments in graduate education and the higher education research enterprise.  Such a “third wave” of investment, which builds on past accomplishments set forth in the Morrill Act and “Science the Endless Frontier,” will help strengthen the U.S.’s global leadership in the related areas of higher education, research and development, and innovation.

A letter sent to Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) in support of legislation he introduced entitled the “America Innovates Act of 2012.”  This legislation recognizes the vital role played by U.S. graduate education in preparing the highly skilled scientific and technological talent the country needs to support its innovation agenda.  The bill contains several provisions relating to federal support of graduate education at the National Science Foundation (NSF).