HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 915

BYRepresentatives Wineberry, Jacobsen, Belcher, Prince, Locke, Unsoeld, Heavey, Grimm, Appelwick, Nelson, K. Wilson, Silver, Allen, May, Jesernig, R. King and P. King 

Increasing the stipends of teaching assistants and research associates.

House Committe on Higher Education

Majority Report:     Do pass with amendments.  (11)

     Signed by Representatives Jacobsen, Chair; Heavey, Vice Chair; Allen, Barnes, Basich, Jesernig, Nelson, Prince, Unsoeld, K. Wilson and Wineberry.

House Staff:Susan Hosch (786-7120)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION MARCH 3, 1987

BACKGROUND:

The state and regional universities hire a limited number of graduate students to assist members of the faculty with undergraduate instruction and with research projects.  These teaching and research assistants receive a stipend for their services from the university in which they are enrolled.

State law exempts nonresident students holding a graduate service appointment from the nonresident tuition differential.  Graduate students employed for at least twenty hours a week for an academic department, in support of instructional or research programs, are also exempt from the nonresident tuition differential.  In addition, state law permits institutional governing boards to waive resident operating fees for students holding graduate service appointments which involve employment of twenty hours a week or more.

For the 1987- 89 biennium, the Governor has proposed raising the salaries of teaching assistants by an average of three percent the first year of the biennium and three percent the second year of the biennium.  These increases would be augmented by an additional salary pool which equates to giving ten percent of the teaching assistants the same percentage increase proposed for faculty at their institutions.  This salary package proposes increases averaging substantially less than the increases the Governor has proposed for the faculty assisted by these student employees. The Governor has proposed increases averaging 19.6 percent for the University of Washington faculty, 19 percent for faculty at Washington State University, and 15 percent for faculty at the regional universities.

SUMMARY:

BILL AS AMENDED:  The legislature finds that teaching and research assistants provide an invaluable service to the state's system of higher education.  These student employees help set high academic standards for graduate programs, assist in increasing faculty productivity, and are responsible for up to twenty-eight percent of instruction for undergraduate students.

Competition for exceptional graduate students is intense, yet the net stipends offered to teaching and research assistants at Washington's universities can be almost eight hundred dollars less than average stipends offered by peer institutions.  During the 1987-89 biennium, the legislature intends to increase stipends for these student employees by the same percentage that faculty salaries are increased.

AMENDED BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The term research associate is replaced with the term research assistant.

Appropriation:  $4,939,886 is appropriated for the 1987-89 biennium to increase salaries for teaching assistants at the state and regional universities.  The funds will be apportioned as follows:  $2,768,817 to the University of Washington; $1,931,803 to Washington State University; $55,875 to Eastern Washington University; $61,684 to Central Washington University; and $121,707 to Western Washington University.

Fiscal Note:    Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Bob Smith, Washington State University; Dale Comstock, Central Washington University; Paul Fishman, Betty Feetham, Mark McDermott, Ellen Kaisse, Karma Augerot, Hunter Huckabay and Heather Worthley, University of Washington; Will Lundlan, Sue Durrand and Stan Smith, Washington State University.

House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Twenty-eight percent of undergraduate instruction at the University of Washington, and forty percent at Washington State University is the responsibility of teaching assistants.  Recruiting outstanding graduate students helps in the recruitment of outstanding faculty.  Increasing stipends for these students helps to recruit the best students, and will assist recipients in coping with the new tax laws.  Graduate student stipends will be subject to federal income tax for the first time in 1987.  In 1988, operating fee waivers will be taxed as well.  Graduate assistants will take home less money at the end of the biennium than they do now, even if the Governor's proposed increase for teaching assistants is accepted.  In student evaluations at the University of Washington, teaching assistants are generally ranked at the same level as faculty instructors; they rank slightly above the faculty in the very good category and slightly below them in the outstanding category.

House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.