book fund comparison

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chromogranin

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i am interested in compiling a list of the book fund/travel allowance granted by residency programs. i am most interested in the book funds of academic institutions in the midwest and east coast, though it would be cool to hear what any other place is offering. i hope that current residents and resident applicants can help fill this out.

bid $1000/yr
bwh $1500
case western reserve/uh $1000/yr
cleveland clinic $400/yr, one free conference/4yr without need to present
columbia
duke $1500/yr which may be applied to conferences in which you are not presenting
emory
hopkins $1000/yr
methodist hospital (Houston/Cornell): PGY1 books are provided (include several $$ books like Robbins). Afterwards $500/yr; 3 in-state conferences a year covered regardless of presenting.
mgh ~$960/yr
northwestern
ohio state $1500/yr, up to 75% carryover to the next year
u chicago
u indiana ~$2300/yr, with $1000 allocated in 2nd year for laptop; sep $1000/yr travel with $500/yr bonus for presenting
u iowa
u maryland $1000/yr
u michigan $1500/yr, with carryover, but includes travel allowance irrespective of poster presentation
u minn $1000/700/700/700 with carryover for books; one free conference/4yr (or applied toward laptop), $1500/yr travel
u nebraska $1000/yr, one free conference/4yr without need to present
u new mexico $1600/yr discetionary, inc laptops, etc.
u pitt/upmc $1000/yr; 1 conference/yr without need to present
u penn $1000/yr which may be applied to conferences in which you are not presenting
utsw $500/yr; free laptop (mac)
u virginia $800/yr; up to $2000/yr for approved research projects
washu $700/yr
yale $1400/yr (AP), $500/yr (CP)

i apologize for leaving a lot of great programs out, but i just wanted to give a sense of the types of programs i am looking at. i appreciate any contribution about any program, however.

also, i hear pitt gives its residents texts in which it has staff contributors. that is sweet!

thanks to every poster! i will update the first post so as to keep track.

new: i will assume that residents get travel reimbursement for poster presentations. i will make a note if it is otherwise.
 
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Bwh - $1500, not including expenses to conferences where you are presenting a poster or talk.
 
You are most likely going to want some 'what can it be spent on' comment.

Some programs have book travel funds, some have one of each, some allow it to be spent on anything educational/ work related (laptops, PDAs), others limit it to just books.
 
IMO, you have crazy real book funds once you leave training...most on the order of 10-15K per year.

personally, I would take the book funds not to buy books but attend Osler year 1, ASCP year 2 and maybe another subspec conference year 3.

Read the books in your resident library.
 
Ball Memorial is most generous. according to their web: $4000
 
Umich gets I think $1500 per year which can carry over, but conference attendance including presenting at the conference counts as part of this $1500. Those of us who go to conferences and present keep complaining about it but we have a hard time making the PD understand it is unfair (i.e., I am going to at least three meetings this year and thus will not have any book fund). That is, residents who go to no conferences get lots of book money, and they are rewarded for not doing projects. I'll probably ask for extra and they will probably give it to me anyway, so it's not that big a deal. But it is kind of annoying.
 
The Cleveland Clinic (which you left off your list shame shame) has $400 (unless it has increased) annual book fund. Then travel is handled in a separate fund. Which avoid the problem Yaah has.

Case UH has a higher fund ($1000?) that can be spent on any educational item (including PDAs), I do not know if trips are included in that or separate.
 
djmd said:
The Cleveland Clinic (which you left off your list shame shame) has $400 (unless it has increased) annual book fund. Then travel is handled in a separate fund. Which avoid the problem Yaah has.

Case UH has a higher fund ($1000?) that can be spent on any educational item (including PDAs), I do not know if trips are included in that or separate.
Click to expand...

i knew that i must have left off some big name programs. of course, i meant no disrespect. the word on the street is that the cleveland clinic program trains outstanding diagnosticians.

nice responses! thanks guys.
 
yaah said:
Umich gets I think $1500 per year which can carry over, but conference attendance including presenting at the conference counts as part of this $1500. Those of us who go to conferences and present keep complaining about it but we have a hard time making the PD understand it is unfair (i.e., I am going to at least three meetings this year and thus will not have any book fund). That is, residents who go to no conferences get lots of book money, and they are rewarded for not doing projects. I'll probably ask for extra and they will probably give it to me anyway, so it's not that big a deal. But it is kind of annoying.
Click to expand...

thats wierd....considering the UMich pathology dept is probably a cost center that is generating 10+million a year, then probably another 25 million on the CP side, then of course millions in research monies....where it be goin Yaah?
the $$ that is..
 
UMinn increased a coupla years ago (the chiefs lobbied):

$1,000 for the first year (was $700/annually)
$700 for the 2nd, third, and fourth years (was $400)
$500 for the fifth year (was $200)

Book funds carry over.

The travel fund has increased: Annual travel funds $1,500 (increased from $1,000) - you basically get to go for free if you're presenting.
 
At UVA, we now get $800 a year for books.

All conferences that you are presenting at are covered. Fourth year residents get one free meeting, even if you aren't presenting.

Each resident can get up to $2000 per year for research expenses (as long as your project is approved by Dr. Wick).
 
Bierstiefel said:
Bwh - $1500, not including expenses to conferences where you are presenting a poster or talk.
Click to expand...

The materials I have from BWH indicate that its $1500 total over your training, not per year. An additional $1500 can be had per year to reimburse for travel provided that you present.
 
Other book funds not already mentioned that I have access to:

MGH: increasing scale that averages $960/yr
WashU: $700/yr
Yale: $1400/yr AP, $500/Yr CP (somepne from Yale verify this)
UPitt: $1000/yr
 
do book funds get taxed? that is, do you get to spend the whole thing, or is it built into your paycheck and thus subject to taxes?
 
gbwillner said:
The materials I have from BWH indicate that its $1500 total over your training, not per year. An additional $1500 can be had per year to reimburse for travel provided that you present.
Click to expand...

That is correct. Double checked my previous post and I didn't say it was per year. I was misquoted.
 
mlw03 said:
do book funds get taxed? that is, do you get to spend the whole thing, or is it built into your paycheck and thus subject to taxes?
Click to expand...

We get to spend the whole thing. We go over to the bookstore and order books and then the bookstore bills the dept directly.
 
Indiana U
1st Year: $2250
2nd Year: $3250 ($1000 for purchase of laptop)
3rd Year: $1750
4th Year: $2000
_______________

Grand Total: $9250

In addition, 3rd & 4th year residents may apply for an additional $1000 to be used for meetings or for board exam fees.

If residents are speakers for a poster or platform presentation, they receive an additional $500 for each poster of platform.
 
LADoc00 said:
thats wierd....considering the UMich pathology dept is probably a cost center that is generating 10+million a year, then probably another 25 million on the CP side, then of course millions in research monies....where it be goin Yaah?
the $$ that is..
Click to expand...

Well, like I said, I truly think it is misunderstanding on the part of the PD. I think the leadership really thinks this is a better solution to the past (which was a smaller book fund). That's because now people can use the money in any educational fashion, including for review courses, conferences you don't present at, etc. And like I said, they will fund over and above that amount if we present at multiple conferences. And because I am presenting at like four conferences this year I think if I asked for a book or two they would say yes.
 
updated. thanks to everyone for contributing. sorry for the bwh mistake.
 
mlw03 said:
do book funds get taxed? that is, do you get to spend the whole thing, or is it built into your paycheck and thus subject to taxes?
Click to expand...

In terms of Federal tax, it probably depends on the institution and how they handle the funds. If it's direct billed to the department, probably not. If they reimburse you, depends on how they handle that reimbursement.

However it's handled though, it likely qualifies as taxable income, but if they don't report it to the IRS in your W-2, I doubt many people would report it themselves...

(Consult your CPA/tax advisor 🙂 )

BH
 
djmd said:
The Cleveland Clinic (which you left off your list shame shame) has $400 (unless it has increased) annual book fund.
Click to expand...

Number 13 on the list, number one in our hearts...
 
At University of New Mexico, the book fund is $1600 per year. It can be used for books, PDAs, laptops, or conferences you aren't presenting at. Those conferences you do present at are paid for separately by the department.
 
QuietSylph said:
At University of New Mexico, the book fund is $1600 per year. It can be used for books, PDAs, laptops, or conferences you aren't presenting at. Those conferences you do present at are paid for separately by the department.
Click to expand...

wow - that's quite a lot of money. do you by chance know the stipend at UNM? the stuff i can find online is a few years out of date and has it in the high $30sK, but i gotta figure they're at least up to $40K by now since pretty much every place is.
 
UMN also has the "one free conference/4yr". And I believe we recently have been allowed to buy laptops with it - one of the first-years went this route.
 
mlw03 said:
wow - that's quite a lot of money. do you by chance know the stipend at UNM? the stuff i can find online is a few years out of date and has it in the high $30sK, but i gotta figure they're at least up to $40K by now since pretty much every place is.
Click to expand...

Barring some financial disaster, UNM is expected to offer the following pay scale for 7/08-6/09:

PGY1 $43,886
PGY2 $45,369
PGY3 $47,998
PGY4 $50,555
PGY5 $52,649
PGY6 $54,475

This is the result of recent resident union negotiation with the administration (previously, the salaries were significantly lower).
 
gbwillner said:
Methodist hospital (Houston/Cornell): PGY1 books are provided (include several $$ books like Robbins). Afterwards $500/yr.
Click to expand...

Also, conferences are separate. Believe they pay for up to 3 in-state conferences a year, and any conference you are presenting at... Ultimately, they have a nice benefits package.

BH
 
QuietSylph said:
Barring some financial disaster, UNM is expected to offer the following pay scale for 7/08-6/09:

PGY1 $43,886
PGY2 $45,369
PGY3 $47,998
PGY4 $50,555
PGY5 $52,649
PGY6 $54,475

This is the result of recent resident union negotiation with the administration (previously, the salaries were significantly lower).
Click to expand...


thanks for that update, quietsylph. good to know that UNM is offering salaries on par with pretty much all the other programs. from what i've heard about ABQ's cost of living, that sounds like a fair salary, especially when you include the $1600 the department is providing for educational items. i'm guessing you're a current resident based on your knowledge of the program, so i guess you'll be seeing me in a little under a month for my interview out there.
 
I would add that UPMC (Pitt) also gives you a laptop for free. Conferences are 1/yr unless you are presenting (I find this to be pretty standard)
 
For all you mac lovers out there. Southwestern offers a freelap top... a mac. The entire department is mac. I have tried to work with macs... HAH! is what I say.

😎
 
According to the packet I got from BID, $1000/year. Also the residents said that if you presented at a conference, it would be covered separately.
 
Duke's book fund is $1500 / year, which can be applied to books, conferences, etc. One big point is that conference travel, meals, and hotel are covered seperately by the department if you're presenting anything at all.
 
Penn - $1000 per year which you can use to go to a conference if you are not presenting. If you already spent your $1000 but are presenting something at a conference, they will pay for you. The money does not transfer year to year. The residents' libraries get either $5000 or $10000 (can't remember which) a year for AP, and the same for CP.
 
on top of the free laptop, each resident has a $500 book fund every year.

attendance at conferences, when one is presenting a poster, is paid for by the department.
 
Penrose - $1200/yr for books, can be used for conferences PGY2+, conferences paid for by dept if presenting
 
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