$250 Education Stipend

[OnePunchBiopsy]

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Been a while since I’ve posted, quick question.

My surgery fellowship gives me a massive $250 a year for an education stipend. What should I spend the money on?

Not going to buy a textbook in the current era of e-books.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Assuming there is a board exam you need to take at the end, some sort of q bank.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Assuming there is a board exam you need to take at the end, some sort of q bank.

I think it’s a great idea. We already have lots of access to Qbanks and old exam questions though.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Sign up for a fun class at the local community collage.
Something like, Home Beer Brewing, Bee Keeping, Quilting Workshop, Photography for the Workplace, Explore Tai Chi, Etc.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Buy a textbook on Amazon.

Return the text book to Amazon.

 

[Ironspy]

Towards Step 3

 

[Apollyon]

Buy a textbook on Amazon.

Return the text book to Amazon.

Why does this always sound like fraud to me?

 

[clausewitz2]

$250 is way to penny ante for the IRS to care but they would not be amused if you were to do this with large sums of money as it would simply be a novel form of tax evasion if you had no real intention of keeping the book.

But nobody seems to care about the openly advertised CME courses that charge 3k and give you a 2k Amazon gift card back so obviously bigger fish to fry out there.

For OP's question my residency program gave us $900 a year for our educational stipend and books/DEA license consumed all of it for me every year, but we like to talk and navel gaze a lot more than y'all over in surgery so YMMV.

 

[Apollyon]

$250 is way to penny ante for the IRS to care but they would not be amused if you were to do this with large sums of money as it would simply be a novel form of tax evasion if you had no real intention of keeping the book.

But nobody seems to care about the openly advertised CME courses that charge 3k and give you a 2k Amazon gift card back so obviously bigger fish to fry out there.

Not my point - fraud is fraud, regardless of the amount or who is affected. That's all. I was speaking to the issue, not the consequences (or lack, thereof). For that, I agree. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

On the flip side, though, you made me think of something - remember how petty and fragile and demeaning are people in academics (remember, some animals have to live in the zoo, because they can't live in the wild). A plurality (I wouldn't say majority) revel in trivial insults (recall, "the battles are so bloody because the stakes are so low"), and, were the wrong faculty member hear anything of this (esp if they got away with the same thing when they were housestaff), they could waste their inefficient time making someone's life difficult, just because they can. The less power people have, the more they use it.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Not my point - fraud is fraud, regardless of the amount or who is affected. That's all. I was speaking to the issue, not the consequences (or lack, thereof). For that, I agree. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

On the flip side, though, you made me think of something - remember how petty and fragile and demeaning are people in academics (remember, some animals have to live in the zoo, because they can't live in the wild). A plurality (I wouldn't say majority) revel in trivial insults (recall, "the battles are so bloody because the stakes are so low"), and, were the wrong faculty member hear anything of this (esp if they got away with the same thing when they were housestaff), they could waste their inefficient time making someone's life difficult, just because they can. The less power people have, the more they use it.

Apollyon
That is the most profound thing I have read/heard this week!
I will put that up on my quote of the day board.

 

[Redpancreas]

Been a while since I’ve posted, quick question.

My surgery fellowship gives me a massive $250 a year for an education stipend. What should I spend the money on?

Not going to buy a textbook in the current era of e-books.

Board review subsidy, conference attendance, or journal submission fee (if journal is pubmed indexed).

 

[dpmd]

Why does this always sound like fraud to me?

Because it is?

 

[CoolDoc1729]

Because it is?

Lol yeah. It’s the same people who took PPP money during covid even though their work was unchanged 🤦🏻‍♀️

 

[Apollyon]

Lol yeah. It’s the same people who took PPP money during covid even though their work was unchanged 🤦🏻‍♀️

One crime doesn't excuse another.