Policy benefits grad students

Any graduate student knows that juggling research, teaching duties and scholarship is challenging enough, and becomes even more so when combined with the added responsibilities of parenthood. Now Yale has become more family-friendly with new policies for full-time Ph.D. students who become parents during their first to sixth years of study.

After the birth or adoption of a child, Ph.D. students may suspend their academic responsibilities and request relief during that semester or the following one. Students will remain registered for that semester and continue to receive financial aid, and their scholarly obligations will be modified. The students’ academic clock will also stop for one semester.

“New parenthood at the birth or adoption of a child substantially affects the ability of doctoral students to meet academic and professional obligations,” Provost Andrew Hamilton, Ph.D., said of the new policies that took effect July 1. These policies, he said,“support the intersecting personal and professional lives of graduate students at Yale.”