The College of Arts and Sciences (“College”) supports the new Graduate School Policy on Childcare Accommodation for graduate students. Since the policy leaves a number of details to the discretion of the Schools and Colleges, this document describes its implementation mechanisms in the College.
The College will accept applications from either female or male graduate students. If both parents are graduate students in the College, only one application per family will be considered. Graduate students who wish to request a leave of absence to care for a child must start the process by submitting a completed Leave of Absence Request Form, available on the Graduate School website, to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in their department, who will forward it to the Office of the Dean (Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies) and to the Graduate School. If the Dean of the Graduate School grants the Leave of Absence, the DGS should contact the Senior Associate Dean and consult together to determine the period of leave, up to a maximum of three months. The following guidelines will be used to determine the source of funding:
- Paid leaves will not be granted during periods in which graduate students receive no stipend support. For instance, in programs that do not offer stipend support to graduate students in the summer, paid leaves will not be granted during the summer months.
- Students supported by TA stipends during the academic year will continue receiving their stipends for a maximum of three months while on leave of absence. The College will provide PT/OT funds to the Department to cover the teaching assignments that the student on leave will not be able to perform.
- Students supported by RA grant stipends will continue receiving their stipends for a maximum of three months while on leave of absence. Since granting organizations normally disallow RA stipend payments to students not actively involved in research, the College will provide the stipend funding during the leave.
- Students supported by fellowships may also continue receiving their stipends during the granted period of leave. The College will only provide the stipend funding when the organization granting the fellowship disallows paid leaves of absence.
- In any other cases, the funding for the stipend during the period of paid leave will be determined by negotiation between the DGS of the program and the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.
A graduate student who has received a paid leave for childcare accommodation issues becomes ineligible for the rest of her/his tenure in the graduate program; i.e., only one paid leave will be allowed over the course of a student’s period of graduate study.
