Introduction

In recent years, the topic of health care coverage for graduate teaching and research assistants has become a topic of national discussion. As recently as April 22, the topic has become a state concern, as University of Georgia graduate students have rallied to ``promote the goal of obtaining health care coverage for graduate students.''[1] Locally, the Student Health Advisory Committee at Georgia Tech, has been discussing the importance of health insurance for all students. Furthermore, the merits of mandatory health insurance has been discussed [2]. The importance of this matter needs to be considered within the context of the Georgia Tech community.

Strategic Plan

The executive summary of the Strategic Plan for the Georgia Institute of Technology outlines the mission, the strategic context, goals, and the agenda by which these are to be achieved for the future success of the Institute. Included as one of the agenda items, as part of maintaining and enhancing research, is the line, ``Attract the best graduate students- a crucial lifeline for future research excellence.'' A committee was formed in late 1996 to put together a working document which would detail a course of action for achieving the goals set in the Strategic Plan. The report produced by this committee lists as an indicator of success in attracting the best graduate students, the following goal.

``By Fall of 1998, the Provost and Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance will work with the Board of Regents to develop a fringe benefits program for graduate assistants.'' [3]

In the November 1996 State of the Institute Address, President Clough highlighted the importance of continuing the implementation of the Institute strategic plan, and enhancing the reputation of the Institute [4]. Again in 1997, he indicated that one of the Institute challenges is to ``compete with the best.''[5] In the growing marketplace for engineers and scientists, universities and institutes must make an effort to remain competitive in attracting high caliber individuals for their graduate programs.

A Competitive Necessity

Georgia Tech is competing in national rankings, and seeks to achieve and maintain top rankings of each of its schools and colleges. We aspire to be one of the top three public institutions in the nation. Recruiting and retaining the best graduate students is imperative to the success of the research that is conducted at Georgia Tech. In the past several years, many of the top-ranked institutions have implemented some plan to provide full or partial health insurance benefits as part of the compensation package for graduate teaching and research assistants. These schools include:

Conclusion

Attracting the best graduate students to Georgia Tech is a clearly established goal of the administration. The preponderance of evidence shows that the schools we compare ourselves to and compete against are offering health insurance as part of graduate assistant compensation. The authors of this document recommend that the administration form a task force to consider and plan the incorporation of health insurance into the graduate assistant compensation package. We further recommend that graduate student input be sought during discussion, design, and implementation of such package.