Do most of you work or plan to work part-time while attending school?

[beebee0]

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If you are getting a master's degree in public health, of course, since Ph.D. candidates mostly likely get funding.

So if you attend school full time, do you try to get a job to make some extra money? Although in this year's job market, even part-times jobs are hard to find...

I have worked my way through college, but in grad school I don't know if it would be different.

 

[behealthy]

I've got a research project lined up. It's not 100 percent, but hopefully it will go through, and I'll be getting paid for it.

 

[Ilovecoffee]

I've got a research project lined up. It's not 100 percent, but hopefully it will go through, and I'll be getting paid for it.

how do you go about finding these research jobs? are you on federal aid and this is research job work-study?

 

[xscpx]

I work full time, go to school full time, and I will be starting a research assistantship in the Fall (unpaid).

 

[ucnative]

The general impression I get from talking to folks and reading this forum is that it's entirely possible to keep at least a part-time job while getting an MPH.

In my case, I've been doing fundraising for a free clinic for two years, and I plan to cut my hours to half-time - maybe less as the year progresses - while I'm in school. (My school's in the same geographic area as my current job.) Now that I've connected my employer to the university's work-study program, part of my salary will be federally subsidized.

 

[kurly]

I've got a research project lined up. It's not 100 percent, but hopefully it will go through, and I'll be getting paid for it.

Same here, waiting to hear back about a potential RA position. Also, there are supposed to be a lot of research jobs opening up at my school (and probably many other schools) for projects receiving grants from Pres. Obama's economic stimulus funds (http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/), so I'm going to be looking into that as well. Worse comes to worst, I'll try to figure out a way to stay part-time at my full-time job. But what I do know is I will definitely be working at least 20 hours per week.

 

[Stories]

how do you go about finding these research jobs? are you on federal aid and this is research job work-study?

While RA jobs are often funded by the federal government, they are unrelated at all to your federal student aid programs. They are completely up to the discretion of the faculty and hire students they think would be good for their own projects. It's just like applying to any other job, really. I got my RA position 2 months into starting my MPH. The big advantage of RA positions is that you get in-field experience, a pretty generous amount of pay (for a student), flexible school hours, and tuition benefits.

RA positions are also pretty critical to landing a decent shot of getting into PhD programs, too.

 

[behealthy]

I was asked by a faculty member I know. Getting a RA job shouldn't be too hard, if you go to a big school, with lots of research 😉

 

[154175]

I honestly have no idea of how to even start looking. I kinda fell into my job at my undergrad. I'm a phlebotomist, so it shouldn't be difficult to find something in DC (where I'll be), but with being out of the country in the spring of 2010 and possibly the fall... I don't know if I should even look.

But I'll be bored without a job.

 

[xscpx]

I have a question:

For all the people who don't work/work part-time, how do you afford to live? I would love to not have to work but that is just not practical because then I would starve! How do you manage it?

 

[beebee0]

I have a question:

For all the people who don't work/work part-time, how do you afford to live? I would love to not have to work but that is just not practical because then I would starve! How do you manage it?

l-o-a-n.

 

[xscpx]

l-o-a-n.

The loans are not a reasonable amount of income. There is no way you can afford a mortgage payment, car payment, insurances, bills, etc off of that.

My school allows me to get 20,000 a year total. After school related things that brings me to say 10,000 a year. To live off of? Are you insane?


Lets just play with some figures: (where I live)

Rent/Mortgage - $1000/mo = $12,000/year
Utilities - $450/mo = $5,400/year
Car payment - $300/mo = $3,600/year
Insurance - $100/mo = $1,200/year

Ok. that includes just basic necessities, (not counting food), no cell phones, credit card bills, or anything extravagant. So that is $22,000 a year just there. Now figure you have to eat. Even if you are only responsible for half of the bills its still way more than loan money.

 

[Stories]

The loans are not a reasonable amount of income. There is no way you can afford a mortgage payment, car payment, insurances, bills, etc off of that.

My school allows me to get 20,000 a year total. After school related things that brings me to say 10,000 a year. To live off of? Are you insane?


Lets just play with some figures: (where I live)

Rent/Mortgage - $1000/mo = $12,000/year
Utilities - $450/mo = $5,400/year
Car payment - $300/mo = $3,600/year
Insurance - $100/mo = $1,200/year

Ok. that includes just basic necessities, (not counting food), no cell phones, credit card bills, or anything extravagant. So that is $22,000 a year just there. Now figure you have to eat. Even if you are only responsible for half of the bills its still way more than loan money.

Whoa, those are some expensive bills! $450/mo for utilities? You need to get out of Florida. Even in Boston I didn't pay more than $100/mo for utilities at any point. Here's a run down of the places I've lived and what I incur for costs during grad school living as a student with 2 or 1 other person(s):

Boston (I lived on roughly $1500/mo = RA stipend):
Rent: $800/mo.
Utilities: $60/mo. (heat + hot water were included)
Transportation: $55/mo. (monthly subway pass)
Food: $300/mo.
Cable/Internet: $30/mo.

New Haven (I'll be living on roughly $2000/mo = PhD stipend):
Rent: $795/mo
Utilities: $70 (heat included)
Transportation: $425/mo. (car + gas)
Food: $300
Cable/Internet: $50/mo.

Living a grad student life, you're expected to live cheap. That's why they don't give you a ton of loans. Federal Direct loans should be able to cover a very large portion of your loans necessary (at BU it was something like a ratio of $18k sub/$32k unsub). Of course, not everyone needs to take out that much, but you can always get a private loan, too. Obviously, it's not advisable to take out so much money, but the options are there if you want/need it.

You'd be surprised at the number of folks that don't work. I had tons of friends at BU who didn't do anything but school. For plenty of folks, grad school is a time to enjoy because it's the last time (probably) when you won't have a great deal of responsibility.

 

[Vayu]

You can get more than $20,500, which is the Stafford loan cap for most graduate students. However, students in an accredited Public Health program can request loans up to their need and no greater than $32,000.

 

[Ilovecoffee]

While RA jobs are often funded by the federal government, they are unrelated at all to your federal student aid programs. They are completely up to the discretion of the faculty and hire students they think would be good for their own projects. It's just like applying to any other job, really. I got my RA position 2 months into starting my MPH. The big advantage of RA positions is that you get in-field experience, a pretty generous amount of pay (for a student), flexible school hours, and tuition benefits.

RA positions are also pretty critical to landing a decent shot of getting into PhD programs, too.

Thanks for this. I'm an international, starting at UMich. I definately wanna work while in school, not just cause of the money - but for experience cause a PhD is on my agenda.
So for now, i'm getting in touch with professors, and going through the UMich's student employment website - any other advice of job hunting wwould be much appreciated.

So at BU - you got tuition benefits with your RA job? thats pretty awesome. UMich has those RA/TA positions which get you a tuition waiver but they're apparently EXTREMELY hard to get.

looking forward to hearing from you.

 

[beebee0]

The loans are not a reasonable amount of income. There is no way you can afford a mortgage payment, car payment, insurances, bills, etc off of that.

My school allows me to get 20,000 a year total. After school related things that brings me to say 10,000 a year. To live off of? Are you insane?


Lets just play with some figures: (where I live)

Rent/Mortgage - $1000/mo = $12,000/year
Utilities - $450/mo = $5,400/year
Car payment - $300/mo = $3,600/year
Insurance - $100/mo = $1,200/year

Ok. that includes just basic necessities, (not counting food), no cell phones, credit card bills, or anything extravagant. So that is $22,000 a year just there. Now figure you have to eat. Even if you are only responsible for half of the bills its still way more than loan money.

.......you pay a mortgage while in school?? well i dunno about later, but curently I live in San Diego, which IS expensive, pay no mortgage and rent has been $4000-6000/year.
I don't have any car payments.
food = about $200/month if i eat out a lot.
I don't watch TV. so utilities include elec and H2O and internet which are about $40/month.
And then some spending money here and there..

And that's about it.

so that is about $10 000 per year... I really don't want to take that much in loans, because the interest rate IS high, and paying back is a pain because all of your money seems to be going into the interest payments...

 

[xscpx]

You can get more than $20,500, which is the Stafford loan cap for most graduate students. However, students in an accredited Public Health program can request loans up to their need and no greater than $32,000.

You cannot get more than your cost of attendance regardless of what the limits are. If you're schools limits are 20,500 that is all you are allowed, total.


Stories:

Yeah, utilities are ridiculous here. That was actually a lowball estimate. Electric is around $200 a month, cheap cable/internet $100, water $50, hoa fees $120 (trash, maintenance, etc). If you have any channels (which I don't) or you have a home phone it will be higher. Also is you have a larger place. Mine is 1600 sq feet. Larger place = more space to cool = bigger electric bill. Living in a place where it is forever 98 degrees is not nice on your wallet.


And to Beebee;

The housing market in Florida collapsed. It is actually cheaper to pay a mortgage than it is rent. Rents in my area range from $800-2500. Housing prices are in the $60-120k range for a really good sized place. It makes more sense to not rent here. We also only have one car payment now, but will have a second soon since my car is literally falling apart. So that's another $300/month.


I don't know. I cannot imagine not working. I worked two jobs as an undergrad too. It could also be that I was older when I started undergrad (21) and I'm married (engaged) and stuff now. I cannot be comfortable living like "a student" I guess.

 

[Stories]

Thanks for this. I'm an international, starting at UMich. I definately wanna work while in school, not just cause of the money - but for experience cause a PhD is on my agenda.
So for now, i'm getting in touch with professors, and going through the UMich's student employment website - any other advice of job hunting wwould be much appreciated.

So at BU - you got tuition benefits with your RA job? thats pretty awesome. UMich has those RA/TA positions which get you a tuition waiver but they're apparently EXTREMELY hard to get.

looking forward to hearing from you.

Yeah, at BU as an RA, we got a 95% tuition break. It was pretty nice. Health insurance and dental insurance, as well.

However, like you've mentioned, it's not easy getting a position like that because they are very high in demand. Yet, there's only a few slots open. It's not uncommon for 30-40 people applying to a RA position. There's a lot of perks working as a RA which comes with the flexibility of doing school at the same time. As for being a TA, you're not going to have an opportunity to be a TA until you have taken the class you're TAing for. Even then, the vast majority of TA positions are given first preference to doctoral students (and rightly so).

Since you're an international student, check with the international student's office on what kinds of employment your visa allows you to have. I know there are restrictions on that. The last thing I can recommend is just emailing all the professors in your department asking about availability of RA positions. Even if it's unpaid.

You cannot get more than your cost of attendance regardless of what the limits are. If you're schools limits are 20,500 that is all you are allowed, total.


Stories:

Yeah, utilities are ridiculous here. That was actually a lowball estimate. Electric is around $200 a month, cheap cable/internet $100, water $50, hoa fees $120 (trash, maintenance, etc). If you have any channels (which I don't) or you have a home phone it will be higher. Also is you have a larger place. Mine is 1600 sq feet. Larger place = more space to cool = bigger electric bill. Living in a place where it is forever 98 degrees is not nice on your wallet.

1600sq/ft. That's pretty big, particularly for a student. Well, we all have our own standards of living. I don't mind living in a small(er) 800sq/ft apartment, hence the reason I can get away with living cheap. I don't use AC. Go figure.

 

[xscpx]

1600sq/ft. That's pretty big, particularly for a student. Well, we all have our own standards of living. I don't mind living in a small(er) 800sq/ft apartment, hence the reason I can get away with living cheap. I don't use AC. Go figure.

Heh. You would if you lived in Florida! Current temp: 94 degrees. Real feel:102 degrees! AC is necessary. I also have 3 cats, a ferret, and a ton of fish. They would all be dead if I left the AC off.😱

1600 sq ft is not particularly big at all. Buying a home smaller than that probably would not be a very good investment. I also don't live alone, keep in mind. We lived in an 800 sq ft place when we first moved here (like 3 years ago) and there was just no room and we were all up in each other with no personal space.

I never did the dorm thing or the student living thing. I refuse to let my student status mean that I need to live like did when I was 18. I didn't even start my undergrad until I was in the financial position to do so for that reason.

Working full time may seem crazy to all of you, but living off of ramen noodles in my mid twenties seems crazy to me!

 

[Music333]

When should we be applying for RA positions? At the same time we submit our SOPHAS applications (I think UIC told me this)?

Can we apply to be TAs in undergrad classes?

 

[Stories]

When should we be applying for RA positions? At the same time we submit our SOPHAS applications (I think UIC told me this)?

Can we apply to be TAs in undergrad classes?

This answer varies for every school. You should definitely be talking and asking around right now if you haven't already. You can also try once you get to school and talk to folks in person. You might still have to apply directly through HR, as well.

TAing for undergrad classes--probably not because you're not in that program. You generally need to be in the department you're TAing in (or at the very least the same school). But like I said, you need to have taken the class you're going to be TAing. You're not going to be a good TA if you don't know the material.

 

[aajani]

Yeah, at BU as an RA, we got a 95% tuition break. It was pretty nice. Health insurance and dental insurance, as well.

Wow

I'll be starting at BU for the MD-MPH program and was wondering, do they give this to everyone or do you hvae to qualify/compete for it, or how does it work?

Thx

A

 

[Stories]

Wow

I'll be starting at BU for the MD-MPH program and was wondering, do they give this to everyone or do you hvae to qualify/compete for it, or how does it work?

Thx

A

Since you're an MD student, you wouldn't be able to be an RA because you have to do the RA work full-time. You apply to it like you would a job.

 

[Music333]

This answer varies for every school. You should definitely be talking and asking around right now if you haven't already. You can also try once you get to school and talk to folks in person. You might still have to apply directly through HR, as well.

How does the process work for BU?

 

[Stories]

How does the process work for BU?

Below.

Since you're an MD student, you wouldn't be able to be an RA because you have to do the RA work full-time. You apply to it like you would a job.