Graduate students face an array of choices when evaluating compensation-and-benefits packages that make comparisons difficult. A "Chronicle" survey shows that the offers to teaching assistants and research assistants vary widely. Some institutions cover 100 percent of graduate students' tuition, while others waive only a portion. It is possible to…

Describes how New York University has become the first private institution to recognize the right of teaching assistants to bargain collectively and possible implications for other private institutions. (EV)

A "Chronicle" survey of the pay and benefits offered to research and teaching assistants revealed a widening gap between public and private institutions. (Includes a table of stipends for graduate assistants at top research universities, and profiles of several graduate students' financial situations.) (EV)

Leaders of the movement to unionize graduate teaching/research assistants are learning organizing tactics through the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, and plotting strategies for a critical campaign year. Graduate students at 20 universities already have collective bargaining units, students at 15 institutions are campaigning for union…

The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students has passed resolutions calling for reforms intended to improve the lives of graduate students, including increasing health care and making faculty and institutions accountable for better advising. Although the association is not dominated by union activists, the issue of collective…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This November 26, 2004 issue of "Chronicle for Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "A Question of Degrees" (Contreras, Alan); (2) "Democratize the…