Education

Task Force Examines the Needs of Professional Graduate Students in the Faculty of Medicine

The Associate Dean of Graduate and Inter-Faculty Affairs requested that the standing sub-committee for Professional Masters Program of the Decanal Advisory Committee on Graduate Affairs form a Task Force to review the current and future needs of professional graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine and to recommend strategies to address these needs. Subcommittees were organized to review in depth the following areas: student services (including financial); professional graduate student tuition; and financial need of professional Master's students.

For more than a decade, the tuition fees for health professional graduate students have exceeded the tuition fees paid by students enrolled in a research thesis MSc program. The decision to engage in this tuition fee differential was based on the assumption that health professional students will be immediately employed in jobs at "higher rates of payment" than graduates of MSc programs. The Task Force believes no data support the assumption that graduates of MSc programs will be employed in jobs paid at a lower level than health professionals (non-MDs) graduating from our Faculty of Medicine.

Analysis of OSAP/UTAPs utilization by graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine in 2000-01 identified that professional Masters' students are the higher users of both student loans and high needs' bursaries compared to the MSc/PhD students. Professional Masters' students have little access to financial counseling. A questionnaire was distributed to the professional Masters' students to assess their financial need on entry into, and during their program of study. This sampling of 169 professional graduate students revealed that at least 50% enter from their undergraduate programs with a significant debt accumulated mainly due to educational expenses. By the time they complete their Masters' programs, these individuals will accumulate a total debt load on average between $30, 000 and $40, 000.

The Task Force recommends the following:

Student Tuition Fee

1. The tuition fee for health professional Masters' programs be frozen until it is equal to the MSc tuition fee. Assuming a steady rise in the latter over the next 3 to 5 years, once equivalent both tuition fees will then increase at the same rate.

Student Financial Need

1. Formulate a standard format for gathering financial information with due regard for confidentiality for all professional master's programs and initiate prospective surveillance of student financial need in the Faculty of Medicine starting Sept 2002.
2. Increase the availability and amount of UTAPs or high needs' bursaries to address the unmet needs of graduate students in the health professional Masters' programs.
3. Improve access to and utilization of the University of Toronto graduate student bursary system provided by the School of Graduate Studies.
4. Enhance the access for professional Masters' students to a line of credit arrangement similar to that available to medical students.
5. Enhance the effort of the Faculty of Medicine Development Office and Graduate Departments to raise funds for scholarships and bursaries targeted to the financial needs of professional master's students.

Student Financial Services

1. Each Graduate Department should provide the first point of contact for basic level of advice to students about all sources of financial aid including OSAP/UTAPs, scholarships and bursaries. Appropriate application forms and guidelines should be available at the Departmental level including on their Web sites with links to information provided by the School of Graduate Studies. Departments should delegate responsibility for communication about financial aid to specific administrative staff.
2. Financial counseling services should be provided by the Faculty of Medicine. These services should include, but not be limited to:
   • a resource person to provide individualized financial counseling
   • financial counseling about management of personal budget and debt at entry and exit of the degree program
   • provision of regularly scheduled financial management seminars
3. Information about financial resources and services should be centralized and easily accessed. Improved communication should be accomplished.

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