To: UC Families From: UC Families Subject: UC Families Newsletter May 10, 2006 May 10, 2006 UC Families Newsletter Circulation: 780 Moderator: Karie Frasch email: ucfam@lists.berkeley.edu Website: http://parents.berkeley.edu/ucfamilies Post a Message: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Moderator Note: There will be two more newsletters this month and then UC Families will take a summer break during June and July. Regular newsletters will resume in August. ---------------------------------------------- Contents ---------------------------------------------- *Responses Original post: Insurance for grad students' families Original post: Graduate student question about leave *New postings Lack of childcare at UC Berkeley! Seeking P/T in-home-childcare-2 days a week *News/media NIH Proposes to Cap Payments on Training Grants, to Avoid Big Cuts in Program A Hothouse for Female Scientists: At Carleton, working closely with professors leads women to careers in science UC Davis resource guide on flexible work arrangements *New members Since 4/26/06 ---------------------------------------------- *Responses ---------------------------------------------- You can post additional responses at: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Original post: Insurance for grad students' families ------------------------------------------- Recently in recruiting a potential grad. student, I discovered that Berkeley is at a disadvantage when it comes to providing health insurance for spouses, domestic partners and children of graduate students. Apparently, we provide only a link to private insurance plans. Yale (from which this student also had a good offer) provides an optional health insurance package for families of graduate students. The students pay extra, but at below market rate. Shouldn't a family friendly university system include this in its package of benefits? How expensive is additional coverage and how do grad. students across the campus pay for it? Response: Health Insurance for Grad Student Families ------------------------------------------- The discussion of why the university doesn't provide insurance for students with dependents has been illuminating and depressing. Beyond the specific question of how much it would cost,there is the larger point about what this says about the thinking of our institution. Even as UC is doing a pretty good job, overall, of using its market power to keep premiums from rising too absurdly for faculty and staff, it is wholly abdicating this role for a key group of students. The idea that student parents are too small and too risky of a group to insure would be hilarious if it were not tragic -- they are a small subset of a larger group called students, a group whose size and age and health would seem to make them the kind of prospect insurers salivate over. Why the university doesn't have the political will to force insurers to include students with dependents within the larger pool is beyond me. There are plenty of technical reasons, I'm sure, but fundamentally this would seem to demand the kind of higher-level initiative the ''Family-Friendly Edge'' is supposed to exemplify. If the university rightly sets insurance premiums lower for staff who are less well paid, why should it not follow the same principle even further with students? The rates quoted are higher than what I presently pay as faculty for a family of four. Mark Response: Insurance for Grad Student Families ------------------------------------------- I think this is an issue not only for grad students but for undergraduates as well. At a time when UCB is struggling to maintain diversity, UCB's failure to provide insurance for the children of its students is a blow to parents and single parents especially. It's a shame that UC Berkeley can hand out large compensation packages with no oversight, but can't provide insurance to students' families. Even Wal-Mart is beginning to provide insurance to the families of their part-time workers. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. The challenging step will be to get our message out. I'll be the co-president of Parents at Boalt beginning in the fall, and one of our goals is to raise this issue to the student body. My thought is to reach out to the other parents groups on campus and begin a campaign on this issue. If anyone here is interested - be it in organizing, demonstrating or simply signing - please email me at daniel@schacht.net. Thanks, Daniel Original post: Graduate Student: Question about leave ------------------------------------------- Hi All, I am a pregnant graduate student taking my 2nd quals on April 17th. I am due to give birth at the beginning of September, so will be unable to teach Fall quarter. I looked into taking a maternity leave and it actually seems like a pretty bad deal (I will have to pay for health insurance and be unable to take out loans; my partner is a part-time adjunct, so there will not be a flow of money coming in). I was wondering if anyone has had success with a leave or has found an alternative that does not involve paying full fees. Thanks in advance for any tips. Additionally, anyone else out there just starting a family? Jessica Response: Graduate Student: Question about leave ------------------------------------------- Given your circumstances, it might be a good idea to reconsider taking a leave. If your partner is an adjunct, and your department gives you some choice concerning your teaching schedule, you should be able to teach one course despite having a new baby. You may need to miss a week because of the birth, or two, if you have a C-section, but because teaching typically only requires one's physical presence for a limited number of hours, I have found that it combines relatively well with birth and breastfeeding. On the one occasion that I actually took a leave (because of bedrest prescribed for pregnancy complications), it was an economic disaster for our family. Teaching (albeit the smallest load you can) helps you keep your health coverage, keeps your student loans at bay, etc. It has some other real advantages too: it keeps you in the thick of things so that you don't face re-entry terror later, and it has your partner assuming responsibility from the very beginning, which lays the groundwork for the shared responsibility that you will need to finish your degree and land a job. Tried it both ways Response: Graduate Student: Question about leave ------------------------------------------- This is in response to the graduate student who is having a baby in September and feels she will be unable to teach fall quarter. I agree that continuing in the fall would be difficult after a new baby. But my understanding and experience was that departments should and sometimes do their best to accommodate a temporary leave for graduate students. Maybe the department could arrange for other GSIs to cover your course for 6 weeks on a rotating basis until you can return. And then upon your return you can maintain the smallest possible load to get you through to the winter break. This way you could maintain your health insurance, ability for loans, etc. Also, the graduate division has a Graduate Student Parent Grant program that is around $5k or $6k of free money that can help, but you have to be enrolled to get it (I think). Considering that there is no formal leave policy for graduate students, I think departments should step up and deal with individual cases in the most generous way possible. ---------------------------------------------- *New postings ---------------------------------------------- You can post a response message: http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html Lack of childcare at UC Berkeley! ------------------------------------------ Before my son was born we put him on the waiting list for on-campus childcare, hoping that maybe there would be a slot for him sometime during the first year, and that we could get a subsidy of some kind. I’ve since heard from many other parents that the chance of getting into one of the centers is limited. The campus seems to have only around 100 spaces or something – for all student, staff, postdoc, and faculty families! I have heard that a new child care center is currently being built but I think it will only serve around 50-75 children and I don’t know how families will be chosen. If Berkeley is as “family friendly” as it keeps saying why doesn’t the administration come up with some kind of workable solution to support those of us who work hard for the university but don’t earn very much? I saw that at Stanford there is a “Child care subsidy grant program” which gives up to $5k per year to staff and faculty for child care expenses (http://worklife.stanford.edu/docs/pdf/ChildCareGrantProg-2006.pdf). It is based on income, and even provides $1k for staff or faculty earning up to $125k per year! Under this program my spouse and I would be eligible to receive $4k per year toward our expenses, which would be a TREMENDOUS help. I am sure that a subsidy program would be expensive but wouldn’t it also make UCB a very attractive employer?? (And I just saw that a decision was recently made to give each faculty who earns tenure a $6k bonus in addition to whatever salary increase they also get). Anon. Seeking P/T in-home-childcare-2 days a week ------------------------------------------- Does anybody have any leads? We are looking for a P/T nanny/in-home-caregiver for 2 days a week, approximately 5 hours a day, for our 8-1/2 month old boy. We prefer consecutive days but are flexible. Open to nanny share. I will be in-home working on my thesis while caregiver is here. We live in the Temescal area of Oakland, a 10-minute walk from the Macarthur BART, no car required. Requirements: Affectionate, warm, patient, relaxed, imaginative, engaging, knowledge of child & baby development, experience with babies. References. Contact Glenna ------------------------------------------ *Articles and media ------------------------------------------ You can post comments or discussion points about any of these, or offer new ones - http://parents.berkeley.edu/post_ucfam.html NIH Proposes to Cap Payments on Training Grants, to Avoid Big Cuts in Program By Jeffery Brainard, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 8, 2006 http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=6rfSwNdxtvdxdmkwq8rvwhzGZP25njck or http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/05/2006050801n.htm A Hothouse for Female Scientists: At Carleton, working closely with professors leads women to careers in science, By Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2006 http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=pzbrfszNkdmVrQsypFDd2hcQbg3nKssq or http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i35/35a01301.htm UC Davis has a resource guide on flexible work arrangements in their Balancing Work and Life website. The guide describes different flexible work possibilities, the benefits of flexible work arrangements, and provides guidelines for developing a proposal for a flexible work schedule. http://worklifebalance.ucdavis.edu/balancing/flexible.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- - Post a message * http://parents.berkeley.edu/post.html - Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Address Changes, Help * http://parents.berkeley.edu/subscribers.html