The University of Michigan is moving forward with proposed changes to enrollment policies for PhD students, amid some concerns that the new rules are too strict for students who are trying to balance rigorous study and complicated lives.

Students pursuing doctoral degrees have enjoyed no restrictions on leaves of absence thus far, and have been able to leave their studies and return at any later date to finish the years-long process.

But change is coming in the fall of 2010, when a long-discussed continuous enrollment policy will come into play at U-M's Rackham Graduate School.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The changes would mean one-year leaves of absence would be granted for medical reasons, family emergencies or dependent care and military leave. Any other leave of absence for a personal reason would be granted for one semester and could be taken only once.

Students on approved leaves will not have to pay tuition in their absence, U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said, but those who take a break outside of any approved leave would have to reapply and pay enrollment fees.

At a presentation at the monthly U-M Board of Regents meeting last week, Rackham Graduate School Dean Janet Weiss said a continuous enrollment policy will help PhD candidates finish their studies faster with appropriate faculty support and mentorship.

"In the end, our major goal is to help students to achieve their own aspirations: to complete their PhD degrees," Weiss said. "A higher rate of completion will make the University of Michigan a more attractive place for best to come to graduate school."

About two-thirds of students studying for a doctorate earn their degrees now, Weiss said.

As long as U-M regents approve a tuition decrease of 15 to 20 percent for all PhD candidates in June, the changes will be cost-neutral to students and the university, she said. Ninety-two percent of graduate students pursing a doctorate are fully supported by U-M.

But the new policy has raised the ire of some members of the university community, who say a less flexible leave policy will hurt some students, rather than encourage students to finish their studies and do so quickly.

Gina Poe is an associate professor of anesthesiology and molecular and integrated physiology for the Medical School and serves on the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the executive committee for the Faculty Senate.

She said diverse lives can call for flexibility, pointing out the case of student who took two years off to marry and start a family with her husband in Africa before returning to earn her doctorate. A strict leave policy, Poe said, would have impeded, rather than helped the student.

"These are adults," she said. "Sometimes family and life gets in the way."

Disputes about leaves of absence will be resolved by a dispute resolution board that includes students and academic administrators, Weiss said.

The Rackham Graduate School executive board, which includes 12 faculty members elected by their peers, developed the policy over 2 years. Weiss said the process has included consultation with faculty, staff, administrators as well as student groups like Rackham Student Government.

Rackham accepts about 900 PhD candidates a year, a number that Weiss said won't change with the new rules.