Budget Notes 

Three Budgets:  Attached are three proposed budgets that operationalize the program:
  
Revised Budget for Last Two Years of Current Grant, 2000-2002:  This shows how we plan to reallocate the funding for the last two years of the current grant in order to implement the proposed changes in the program while remaining within the limits of that grant.  This grant was based on the assumption that, since the program would end in the fifth year, no new cohort be admitted that year and only 5 students would be receiving support.  As a result, the fifth year budget (2001-02) for direct student support is only a little more than half of the amount budgeted for the fourth year (2000-01).  If we add together the total budget for the two years ($266,518 + 139,888 = $406,406) and include a projected budget surplus for this year and estimated interest income, we have total available funds of about $419,406 to be spread across the two final years of the grant.  This would allow us to support 15 students per year at a fellowship level equivalent to the stipend provided by a half-time assistantship (see below for details), an average of about $11,500.  Each year approximately half of these students would be first-year fellows and half would be second-year fellows.  In addition, we would have about $15,000 per year available for a research expense fund open to all doctoral students in the college.

Proposed Budget for 2002-07 at $1,100,000:  This budget shows how we plan to allocate funds for the second five years of the MSU/Spencer RTG program (2002-07) under the terms of a proposed grant totaling $1,100,000.  Under these terms, we could support about 14 students per year with fellowships that would grow from about $12,000 to $14,000 a year per student over the life of the grant.  We could also provide funds to support research grants for students in the college amounting to about $14,000 per year.

Proposed Budget for 2002-07 at $750,000:  This budget shows how we plan to allocate funds for the second five years of the program (2002-07) under the terms of a proposed grant totaling $750,000.  This would support about 9 fellows per year (at the same fellowship rate as in the larger grant) and still leave about $12,000 per year for a research expense fund.

At Least 90% of Funds Go to Student Support:  All three budgets presented here allocate at least 90% of funds to student support, with less than 10% going to institutional support (coordinator, mentors, and program coordination expenses).

Grant Not Used to Supplant Other Funds:  The funds for student support from this grant will be used to supplement and not supplant current levels of funding for doctoral financial aid in the College. 

Interest:  Any interest earned on grant funds will be used to enhance the support for RTG fellows and for the RTG program.

No Overhead:  No institutional overhead is requested as part of this grant.

No Overlap with Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program:  The support in this grant will not be used to duplicate the form of support provided by the Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program.  Students who receive support from this grant will be in their middle years of doctoral study.  Students at the stage of writing a dissertation proposal or beyond are barred from applying for a first year of funding.  Students at the stage of writing a dissertation are barred from applying for a second year of funding.

Fellowship Duration:  Fellowships are granted to students for one year at a time; first year fellows are permitted to apply for a second year, but the award of a second year of funding depends on how well they demonstrate that they used the first year and how well they plan to use the second.

Fellowship Level:  Fellowships are pegged at a level that corresponds roughly to the stipend earned by a graduate assistant working half time at level 2 (which is the level of most students in the middle years of their program).  In the 1999-2000, that amount is $11,000.  Students will also be permitted to take on a quarter-time assistantship.  If they do so, as nearly all will, this will bring their total support up to a three-quarter time level, which is the approximate level of the most generous multi-year fellowships awarded by the University and the College.

Inflation Factor:  Fellowship levels are budgeted to rise at a rate of 4% per year in order to keep up with inflation.

Expenses for Fellows:  Fellows are provided with support for copying, phone, fax, and supplies, budgeted at $150 per person per year, which corresponds with our experience in the current program.

College-Wide Research Expense Funds:  We are budgeting funds to support doctoral students who incur significant costs in gathering data as part of their own research efforts.  We want to encourage students who are not Spencer fellows to pursue pilot studies in their area of interest during the middle years of their doctoral studies and to take on more substantial datagathering for their dissertations.   Students would be asked to apply for funds to be distributed in a competition each spring and fall, with awards granted based on the quality of the proposed research. 

Faculty Program Coordinator:  The coordinator of the MSU/Spencer RTG program is a senior faculty member.  We are budgeting funds to pay the coordinator one month in summer salary based on a median senior faculty pay level.  Alternatively, the funds could be used to buy a graduate student replacement in order to relieve the faculty member of a course during the academic year.  The actual responsibilities of the position run well beyond a one-month or one-course equivalent, and the College will match the grant funding for the coordinator with another month in summer salary (or replacement cost for another course).   If the grant level is $750,000, however, the 10% of the budget available to cover this and other institutional costs does not allow us to pay a full one-month’s summer salary; we have budgeted for an amount (90%) that is as close to this figure as we can get within these constraints.  The College will match this amount.
 
Faculty Mentor Funds:  Faculty members who serve as mentors for MSU/Spencer RTG fellows will receive a token credit of $300 per year, which can be used for travel and other scholarly expenses.

Retreats and Lunches:  Retreats are events involving RTG fellows and mentors, which are normally held in a meeting room at the Kellogg Center on campus.  They are used to explore particular issues about the practice of educational research that emerge from the work of the fellows and mentors in the program; they also are the place where fellows present their work to other fellows and mentors and engage them in discussion about this work.  We are budgeting for about 4 of these per year, two for presentations and two for particular substantive programs.  It is our hope that we can coordinate some of these events with the participants in the RTG program at University of Michigan.  In addition, the program will continue to host monthly lunches for all fellows and mentors, in order to reinforce the community of scholars within the program and encourage exchange of views and experiences.

Seminars:  Seminars are events involving doctoral students and faculty in the College as a whole.  These will focus on the practice of educational research and the life of the scholar, with special emphasis on the issues that future researchers and education professors need to know about the profession they are entering and may not be getting elsewhere in their program.   Ideas for these will emerge from inside and outside the RTG program.  The RTG coordinator will organize these seminars, but individual events will be the responsibility of faculty members and students in the College with relevant interests and expertise.  They will be held in meeting rooms in the College.  It is our hope that we can coordinate some of these events with the participants in the RTG program at University of Michigan, with the idea that we may hold sessions in both locations.

Program Coordination Costs:  Based on current experience, we have budgeted for program coordination costs such as copying, telephone, mailing, supplies, etc.  

Program Secretary:  The College is contributing costs of the program secretary (one-quarter time) and other support staff required for the program.

Office Space for Fellows:  The College is also contributing a room to be used as the office space and meeting room for MSU/Spencer fellows.