Welcome to the Office of Student Life

OSL Looking for Work Study Students!
The Office of Student Life opened September 2008 and runs a variety of programs from professional and leadership development to speakers/seminars, service work, and recruiting/job hunt events. We are looking for students to help plan (i.e., logisitics, marketing, posting advertisements, etc) these events and work these events. There will also be some light data entry of event surveys.The students will also be helping with clerical work in the IEMS department. These projects can be: data entry, mailings, filing, light reception, etc. The student workers will also assist in organizing and scanning application files for the graduate program.Each day will be different depending on the time of year and the students will float between OSL and IEMS. We are more than happy to work with your special skills or interests (i.e., computer programming, graphic design, etc).The pay range is between $8.00 and $8.50 per hour

To fill out the electronic application, please visit http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229NMYP4C2P . We are currently interviewing candidates through Thursday, October 1. If you'd like to submit a last minute application please do so and email Adam Cebulski.

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Dear Students, We at The Graduate School (TGS) are pleased to announce that, effective Fall Quarter 2009, we will move from a three-tiered to a two-tiered tuition structure which will: * Simplify our registration process for all PhD students; * Allow TGS to subsidize health insurance premiums 100% for all PhD students. Since very few PhD students pay tuition out of pocket, this change will not financially affect most students. There will be a positive financial impact on some students in the sciences and engineering who now have their stipends supplemented (and subsequently taxed) in order to cover health insurance costs. PhD students should experience a much smoother registration process, especially registration for courses in summer and in advanced years. Please note that these changes only affect PhD tuition and registration; Master's students in TGS will continue to register and pay tuition as usual. New Tuition Model The new plan eliminates the current three-tiered model of being charged a full tuition rate during the first nine quarters, a lower charge during TGS 599, the three-quarter requirement of post-candidacy registration, and an even lower charge for TGS 503 registration. In the new model, charges will be based on the quarter of registration: * Full tuition rate: charged in quarters one through eight, which will include summers * Advanced tuition rate: charged in quarters nine and above The tuition charge that accrues to the student account will be tied to the quarter of enrollment rather than to any specific course registration. Registration Because of the changes to be made in the tuition model, we are also working to streamline registration requirements for PhD students. The new plan has not been finalized and awaits approval by the Administrative Board. Detailed information will be provided later this spring, but we expect that the following changes will be approved: * Residency requirements: The number of quarters of residency required will to change from nine quarters to eight quarters (including summers) to match the number of quarters at the full tuition rate. * Registration: Students will register exclusively for program coursework (whether courses or 590 research) for the first eight quarters. TGS 598, TGS 599, and TGS 503 will be eliminated. A new advanced registration (to be announced) will replace them. Students in their ninth quarter and above will register for the advanced registration course in addition to any extra coursework, not to exceed four units per quarter. * Continuous registration: Continuous registration will still be required and the continuous registration courses (TGS 512, TGS 513, and TGS 514) will be utilized for students on leaves of absence, beyond degree deadlines, with dual degree status, or otherwise needing to maintain TGS’ continuous registration requirement. Registration for one of these courses will stop the counter for tuition charges, but not necessarily for degree requirements. Stipends and Insurance With the overhaul of the tuition system, TGS is slightly increasing the total tuition cost in order to cover 100% of the health insurance premium for all PhD students. In order to make this plan budget neutral to faculty supporting students through grants, TGS has recommended the following: * Placing a two-year moratorium on stipend increases for students in Chemistry and McCormick; * Ending insurance premium supplements in IBiS, Physics, and NUIN; * Centrally covering health insurance premiums 100% for all PhD students. Even with no increase in stipends, most PhD students still benefit as they will no longer pay a portion of their health insurance premiums out of their stipend, and no longer pay income tax on an insurance supplement to stipends which they do not take home. To provide you with a few concrete examples of how students in Engineering and sciences will be affected: * A third-year PhD student in Engineering saw an effective raise of 5% this year (due to increased health subsidization) and, even without a raise in stipend, will see an increase in take-home income next year of 2.7%, greater than the 2% raise they could have expected under the current system. * A third-year PhD student in Chemistry will see a 5.6% increase in take-home income next year, even without an increase in stipend. The following year, again without stipends increasing, the same Chemistry student will see an increase in take-home income of 2.7%, compared to the expected 2% annual increase. * IBiS students will see the normal stipend increase, but will also see a small income tax savings (about $175 a year) as they no longer pay taxes on a stipend supplement that goes directly to paying health insurance premiums. We recognize that there are a small number of students in these programs who do not enroll in the University-sponsored health insurance plan and are therefore not subsidized at any percentage currently. Those students will not benefit from this plan unless they begin to take their health insurance through Northwestern. The Financial Climate and TGS I’d like to take this moment to make a brief statement about the financial position of TGS overall. As you are certainly aware, our nation is coping with its worst financial crisis in over seventy-five years. Our University, and certainly our school, is not immune to the realities of this economic environment. Nevertheless, I can say with confidence that the great majority of what we have proposed to accomplish to upgrade graduate education at the University can still be accomplished during this downturn. Our stated goals and set plans are ambitious but achievable, and while some adjustments likely will be necessary, we are confident that the quality of life, service, and support we provide for our graduate student population will not be diminished. Most important, I can say to you that all guarantees of funding that have been made to our current students will be honored and we will continue to dedicate resources to initiatives targeted to improve your academic and social life at Northwestern. I refer specifically to funds for independent research, conference travel, language acquisition, professional development, community building, and family-friendliness. During my tenure as Dean we have made major strides in upgrading the environment for graduate study at the University. Our current move to ensure full, centralized, untaxed health insurance subsidization for all students is the latest of these initiatives. Even in this fraught economic environment, I hope it is evident to you that we will still work with you to assess needs and determine how to upgrade your quality of life here. Again, our efforts to maintain and promote our students’ quality of life will not be compromised during this economic downturn. In the next month, our annual report and strategic plan update will be made available to you and you can examine in more detail our stated goals and how we plan to operate in the coming year. In conclusion, we believe this specific registration and insurance plan solves several problems faced by faculty, students, and administrators all at once. We look forward to working with you on this innovative, streamlined, new system, and, as always, welcome comments and suggestions on our policies and plans as a whole. Thanks very much for your attention and in advance for helping to make this new plan a reality. Best, Andrew Wachtel Dean