In an attempt to offset the cost of health insurance for graduate students, the Graduate Representative Organization (GRO) has set up an endowment in which commission from on-line purchases made through their Web site are directed into a fund that will benefit the graduate students exclusively. This endowed fund will subsidize graduate students' health insurance in the coming years, once sufficient funds have been raised.
In addition, the University will be phasing in a plan "over the next three fiscal years [in which] all of the full-time resident graduate students will have their health insurance paid for," said Dean of Engineering Ilene Busch Vishniac. Hopkins wants to begin this because they "recognize that the group of people least able to pay for health insurance is the graduate students," said Busch Vishniac.
In the meantime, the endowment set up by the GRO hopes to raise money to make health insurance more affordable. Once the University takes the full responsibility for covering the cost of insurance, the money raised can be directed toward other graduate student needs.
The E-Endowment store, as the site is being called, is located on the GRO Web site. It includes links to on-line companies such as Amazon.com, Buy.com, Staples, Expedia.com and CDNow.com. A percentage of any purchases made at these on-line stores through the GRO site goes directly into the graduate student fund.
Designating something an endowment "means that you take the money you have received and put it aside," said Busch Vishniac. After having reached the set goal, they are entitled to the interest that accrues. Because that original amount of money remains untouched and continues to accumulate interest, "the endowment is meant to be the gift that gives forever," said Busch Vishniac.
The GRO will have access to the interest once $20,000 has been raised, according to current GRO board member Daniel Bain, one of the two currently heading the program.
The idea of setting up an endowment was "something that was thrown around a couple of years ago," said Anthony Stapon, former GRO Chair.
Busch Vishniac noted that graduate students have been trying to resolve the difficulty of affording health insurance for as long as she has been here, and it "has been a heated discussion for at least two years."
Stapon, a graduate student in the Chemistry Department, was the person responsible for putting the plan into action in his two years as chair of the GRO from 1999-2001.
Busch Vishniac said that "it's great to see the graduate students taking this sort of initiative."
"The GRO has undergone a revitalization in the past couple of years," said Stapon, and they are currently trying to fund such concepts as a graduate club, travel grants and fellowships, as well as lack of health insurance.
The GRO decided to actively seek to solve these problems on their own since it was "a matter of the [lack] of good avenues for the university to fundraise for graduate students," said Stapon.
One long term benefit of having such an endowment would be as an attraction to prospective graduate students. This is especially true since other comparable schools, such as Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, have announced that they will begin paying for health insurance for their graduate students as a part of the stipend that graduate students receive.
Unaffordable health insurance is such a big issue for graduate students because "the average grad student makes $10-$15,000 a year," said current GRO Chair Mary Berk, who, along with Bain, is leading this fund-raising effort.
There are about 1,400 graduate students at Johns Hopkins and by going to graduate school instead of working, they "take major salaries losses," said Berk. They are still students, but "we're not regular students," said Berk. They are forced to be far more self-sufficient.
Stapon saw a need to set up this fund after seeing that "the University was not targeting graduate alumni for any possible funds" that would benefit current graduate students. He wanted to "establish something that could be directed toward graduate students" exclusively.
The plan is "a very grass-roots type of thing," said Berk, a graduate student in the Philosophy Department. They hope to build off it and set up other means of raising money.
"We are looking into a number of things for the future," said Berk, including finding corporations to sponsor items for the GRO to sell as well as more direct means of fund raising. They also are considering "direct solicitation of current students," said Bain.
According to Bain, of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, the Web site was set up in June. However, the GRO "didn't have permission [to publicize it] before September," said Stappon, who added that they initiated the idea back in May.
There were logistical issues that needed to be resolved before the University would allow the fund to become public knowledge and because of that the GRO received "permission after textbook buying" period was over in September, said Bain.
If graduate students had been able to contribute while purchasing their textbooks, far more money could have been raised.
To this point, the fund has "between $60 and $100 in it," said Bain. Once more people are aware of how they can add to the endowment, they expect the total to raise more quickly.
The GRO has had to be in contact with many members of the administration, including the two academic deans and the general university counsel of lawyers.
Though it has been challenging to coordinate the endowment with so many departments, "once they realized that we were serious they were very good to us," said Berk.
Busch Vishniac was in favor of the idea of an endowment and said that "we're trying to make sure they have the support" they need to carry it out.
It is not yet clear how the university will put forth their plan of paying for the health insurance of graduate students since they are still "trying to figure out all of the nitty-gritty details, said Busch Vishniac.
The most desirable way would be to enact "a Homewood solution," said Busch Vishniac, in which the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering implement a joint solution.
At an April 2001 GRO-organized open luncheon with graduate students and deans, the university "made a promise" to the students to find a way to cover the cost of their health insurance, said Busch Vishniac.
The GRO is made up of representatives from each department on the Homewood Campus and coordinates funding for various graduate student activities. The elected members of the GRO Council vote on funding requests from the various departments.
Until their health insurance costs are completely taken care of, the E-Endowment store will continue to run and raise money for that purpose. The idea of having a web site where people can make purchases at any time is so appealing because it "keeps a constant trickle" of money coming into the fund, said Stappon. "It will always be there making money," said Bain.
