PhD/PsyD Appropriate Compensation for a Side Hustle Gig Helping a Professor??

[PsychPhDMama]

I'm helping a professor with a vision impairment find a PhD student to help them with their PPTs and Blackboard. It's mostly admin work (e.g., setting up and maintaining Blackboard), but will also involve some work in improving the PPTs (e.g., making them more current, updating look/feel). What is a fair hourly wage for a PhD student completing this work? Estimated weekly commitment is 5 hours. The professor wants to make sure the hourly wage is fair. Thanks everyone!

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[jdawg2017]

Probably depends a little bit on the region (or I guess lack thereof it the position can be remote), but I would say probably $20-$25 per hour sounds reasonable to me (or I would have done this for that wage, especially if it's a class topic that's aligned with my interests).

 

[R. Matey]

I've charged a 'friendly' rate ~$60-100/hr doing side consulting work for people I know. It deeply depends on what it is though. For people I don't know, the rate is much higher.

 

[WisNeuro]

I've charged a 'friendly' rate ~$60-100/hr doing side consulting work for people I know. It deeply depends on what it is though. For people I don't know, the rate is much higher.

Would you pay a grad student that much an hour for this type of admin work?

I'm with jdawg, 20-25/hr seems appropriate for this level of side work for a student.

 

[Sanman]

Would you pay a grad student that much an hour for this type of admin work?

I'm with jdawg, 20-25/hr seems appropriate for this level of side work for a student.

Seems about right assuming the corrections are fairly minor.

 

[R. Matey]

Would you pay a grad student that much an hour for this type of admin work?

Oh, I see what I did. That's what I get for skimming. $20-25 still seems low for someone with at least a master's level education, but it feels pedantic to belabor the point further.

Edit: OP, I just thought of this, you should ask around your institution. When I was in grad school, I think I was paid around $30-$40/hr to do some very lite research coordination for one of my mentor's grants. Maybe that might be a good baseline to start from. And, apologies, I skimmed and thought YOU the psychologist were providing the service.

 

[jdawg2017]

Oh, I see what I did. That's what I get for skimming. $20-25 still seems low for someone with at least a master's level education, but it feels pedantic to belabor the point further.

Edit: OP, I just thought of this, you should ask around your institution. When I was in grad school, I think I was paid around $30-$40/hr to do some very lite research coordination for one of my mentor's grants. Maybe that might be a good baseline to start from. And, apologies, I skimmed and thought YOU the psychologist were providing the service.

Maybe I am undervaluing myself and my time right now... the joys of trainee impostor syndrome.

I definitely agree with the point that it depends on what is exactly being asked. If they are asking for essentially whole new lectures via "updated citations," at that point the person is IMO trending toward being a teaching fellow.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

$20-$25/hr for admin type work. If you are also doing some updating of content and not just style/design, maybe a blended rate of $35/hr? I wouldn’t feel bad asking for $40hr if the dept/Uni (or large grant) is paying it and you are updating the content w citations, but out of their pocket or if it is a small grant, I’d go on the lower side. I try to be fair about it, especially if it’s easy enough work. The fact it is 5hr/wk and not 20-40/wk means I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

 

[Ollie123]

Agree with the above, $25ish is fair. NIH-level (F31) grad student stipends are what, ~26k/year now? Assumption is that it replaces an assistantship, which is normally 20/hours week. $25 * 20 * 52 = 26k. Highly imperfect, but math checks out. Add/subtract a bit based on regional COL, how much content knowledge is required, variability in pay rate, how much you like/dislike the professor, etc.

 

[PsyDr]

At some point, CMS rates for psychologists' time will be the same as the market rate for admin work. That's going to be interesting.

 

[WisNeuro]

At some point, CMS rates for psychologists' time will be the same as the market rate for admin work. That's going to be interesting.

In some states, the Medicaid reimbursement is essentially already there.

 

[R. Matey]

Agree with the above, $25ish is fair. NIH-level (F31) grad student stipends are what, ~26k/year now? Assumption is that it replaces an assistantship, which is normally 20/hours week. $25 * 20 * 52 = 26k. Highly imperfect, but math checks out. Add/subtract a bit based on regional COL, how much content knowledge is required, variability in pay rate, how much you like/dislike the professor, etc.

This conversation makes me grateful for my mentor and alma mater. I was paid more than this when I was an assistant on NSF and endowment funds.

 

[WisNeuro]

This conversation makes me grateful for my mentor and alma mater. I was paid more than this when I was an assistant on NSF and endowment funds.

Moe than a decade ago, but I think I made $20/hour as an independent evaluator on one RCT grant, and $35/hour as a neuro tech on another project Alzheimer's grant arm to boost enrollment for data in minority populations. Definitely helped keep me debt free in grad school. We also didn't teach or have classes over the summer, so I just loaded hours in those months.

 

[R. Matey]

Moe than a decade ago, but I think I made $20/hour as an independent evaluator on one RCT grant, and $35/hour as a neuro tech on another project Alzheimer's grant arm to boost enrollment for data in minority populations. Definitely helped keep me debt free in grad school. We also didn't teach or have classes over the summer, so I just loaded hours in those months.

Yeah, I can't think of a year where I made <= $20k as a graduate student between my assistantship, scholarships, admin work, or summer ad hocs at either my institution or some other liberal arts college.

 

[WisNeuro]

Yeah, I can't think of a year where I made <= $20k as a graduate student between my assistantship, scholarships, admin work, or summer ad hocs at either my institution or some other liberal arts college.

I didn't really do any extra work the first year, just calibrating to the new work load of grad school.

 

[R. Matey]

I didn't really do any extra work the first year, just calibrating to the new work load of grad school.

We didn't have coursework over the summer so it was pretty easy to fill the time with side hustles.

 

[Ollie123]

This conversation makes me grateful for my mentor and alma mater. I was paid more than this when I was an assistant on NSF and endowment funds.

Weirdly, NSF levels are much higher for grad students (37k I think?) so that checks out. How NSF works pay is funky across the board though (not that salary cap math is elegant). I think senior folks are effectively limited to like 16% of their effort or something quite low. Effectively seems like pay is flatter for NSF.

I didn't do any side gigs in grad school, but lived in a low COL area so ~20k/year was (barely) manageable. Spent every extra waking second in the lab. No regrets on my end, but also wouldn't be the right choice for everyone.

 

[R. Matey]

Weirdly, NSF levels are much higher for grad students (37k I think?) so that checks out. How NSF works pay is funky across the board though (not that salary cap math is elegant). I think senior folks are effectively limited to like 16% of their effort or something quite low. Effectively seems like pay is flatter for NSF.

The salary caps were set by my institution and I was paid, at separate times, on NSF and endowment funds. There were different caps that depended on funding, department, and my status with the graduate school. If you're super curious, I can PM you the link.

To your second point, while side-hustling was good for my pocket book, it did come at the expense of my publication record. So, something to consider depending on what students want with their careers.

 

[Ollie123]

Would love a PM if you're comfortable sharing. Some places I looked at for grad school paid more (e.g., I think Vermont was paying upper 20's, but Burlington was also much more expensive). Seemed to sorta-scale with COL, though weirdly places like NYC often paid less than the boonies.

My thinking was that I could manage without loans given where I was living and extra pubs would help me land better academic gigs so it was an investment. The difference between what I make now and what a typical academic psychologist makes is...substantial...and the difference is immensely more than whatever I might have gotten from side hustles as a grad student. Haven't ran the numbers, but I think that would still hold true even if I assumed I invested all the side hustle money and compounded over a decade. Whether I could still have landed this gig with fewer pubs is up for debate. Probably based on what I'm seeing from search committees, though I'd have had to be a bit more strategic about things. If the side gigs meant the difference between loans or no loans the math gets trickier. If I was striving for a clinical career, the side gigs almost certainly would have been the better choice.

 

[R. Matey]

Would love a PM if you're comfortable sharing. Some places I looked at for grad school paid more (e.g., I think Vermont was paying upper 20's, but Burlington was also much more expensive). Seemed to sorta-scale with COL, though weirdly places like NYC often paid less than the boonies.

My thinking was that I could manage without loans given where I was living and extra pubs would help me land better academic gigs so it was an investment. The difference between what I make now and what a typical academic psychologist makes is...substantial...and the difference is immensely more than whatever I might have gotten from side hustles as a grad student. Haven't ran the numbers, but I think that would still hold true even if I assumed I invested all the side hustle money and compounded over a decade. Whether I could still have landed this gig with fewer pubs is up for debate. Probably based on what I'm seeing from search committees, though I'd have had to be a bit more strategic about things. If the side gigs meant the difference between loans or no loans the math gets trickier. If I was striving for a clinical career, the side gigs almost certainly would have been the better choice.

Sure, I'll send you one. I trust you won't dox me There were personal factors too that I've shared in other threads, which informed my decision. I'd like to do something in science (not exactly sure what yet) so the payout has been slow in my primary position, but I still have some side hustles going and I think I'm just comfortable with slower career development as long as I still get paid.

 

[PsychPhDMama]

thank you everyone for your insights, this is all super helpful!