Graduate student leaves decrease after policy change

The effects of last year’s change to UCLA’s leave of absence and in absentia policies are evident, as considerably fewer graduate students took time off from school this past year, according to a recent UCLA Graduate Division report.

Some graduate students have voiced disapproval of the policy changes all year, but UCLA administrators have refused to vote to reverse the policy changes, claiming that the new policy helps students graduate in a timely manner.

The new policies caused more graduate students to stay enrolled at UCLA or pay part of their tuition while conducting research out of state, according to a report presented to the Graduate Council by the UCLA Graduate Division at its meeting last month.

The number of students on leave or in absentia dropped by more than half this past year.

Before the policy change, many more graduate students opted to take a leave of absence, which is free, rather than registering as in absentia, which means a student is enrolled full-time and pays 15 percent of the tuition and student fees while conducting research outside of California.

UCLA altered its leave of absence and in absentia policies last fall to comply with University of California-wide policy changes. As part of the change, UCLA stopped letting students go on leave for academic reasons.

Administrators also cut the number of quarters a graduate student can take a leave of absence from six to three quarters, and are now making students researching in-state pay full tuition.

Some students voiced concerns about the changes, claiming the new policies would not give them enough time to conduct their research or write their dissertations.

Students who oppose the new policies have fought the changes through petitions, ballot measures, townhall meetings and protests all year. Despite the protests, it has been a year of gridlock between students and administrators, who have not changed their stances on the policies’ benefits.

Less than 10 percent of graduate students generally go on leave.

“The majority of graduate students went on with their lives and continued to work toward their degree (after the policy changes),” said April de Stefano, director of academic services for the Graduate Division.

Though some students could register as in absentia once they were barred from taking time off, others could not, and had to find different ways to adjust to the changes.

Nicole Robinson, vice president of academic affairs for the Graduate Student Association, said she thinks many students who would have taken time off faced problems registering as in absentia because of the policy restrictions.

“It’s unclear what those students (no longer taking leaves) are doing. They may have to teach or take out loans while at UCLA, which would be counterproductive, or they may have to withdraw,” Robinson said.

Though fewer students are taking leaves or registering as in absentia, student withdrawal rates have not significantly increased, holding steady at less than 0.2 percent of the graduate student population.

Keziah Conrad, an anthropology graduate student, worked as a teaching assistant while writing her dissertation last year.

Conrad said that spending her time teaching, commuting to campus and looking for future research funding left her with less time to work on her dissertation.

“Leaves of absence are not an option anymore when you don’t have funding,” Conrad said. “And teaching and working is a major time drain.”

But de Stefano said paying tuition and working is the norm for many students and should be expected.

“This is just true in life, if you’re paying tuition, you’re going to be motivated to be done,” de Stefano said.

For now, UCLA’s leave of absence and in absentia policies are not set to change.

“It’s not bad or good, (the policy is) serving its purpose to help students progress toward a degree,” de Stefano said.