Making Students Our Top Priority
The values section of our institution’s Strategic Plan includes a statement that leaves no doubt about what is at the heart of our efforts: “We are educators first and foremost, committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. We measure our success by the achievements of our students and the impact of our graduates in improving the lives of others.” The clarity and positioning of this declaration is perhaps surprising at a top research university that employs just as about as many research faculty as academic faculty. However almost all our activities, by researchers and academic teachers, contribute to the quality of student learning and their success after graduation. Most recently, the decision to make Transformative Learning Experiences the focus of Georgia Tech’s Quality Enhancement Plan (as part of the institution’s reaccreditation) would also indicate that we mean business when it comes to putting our students first.
Of course, students first need to be able to join us to partake of the learning experience we work so hard to create, and that’s why “Expand Access” is a prime focus area in our institution’s Strategic Plan, too. One of the main obstacles to empowering as many students from as many backgrounds as possible is to make sure they see our institution as financially attainable. And a 2024 investigation, for which Georgia Tech collaborated with the American Association of Universities, reveals that a considerable number of Georgia citizens believes that someone from a family like theirs could simply not afford attending Georgia Tech. While we know that we in fact compare very well nationally in the area of affordability with institutions offering similar educational quality and reputation, it seems that the very populations for whom we seek to create additional pathways to attend Georgia Tech nevertheless perceive us as unaffordable. Whatever we find out as we dig deeper into these data, we know that additional support to students will be necessary to expand access.
At Ivan Allen College, making students our top priority and expanding access is not merely a performative act. We deliberately enact these strategic priorities by increasing the investment we make in new direct student support: In a first step, we joined Georgia Tech’s other colleges in a 3% increase for all graduate student stipends. In a second step, in addition to new faculty and staff hires and support for new programs initiatives, we are investing an unprecedented 35% of our total annual budget allocation in 17 new graduate student stipend lines, both at the master’s and doctoral levels. And we won’t stop there: Another focus for the academic year will be to substantially increase the number of scholarships available to undergraduate students.
Please join us in our effort to make an Ivan Allen College education attainable and affordable for as many students as possible! As a smart national leader once said: “Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.”
rju
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