hello im new to this field and i'd like to get some sense of funding in research oriented phd programs. what kind of funding (number of yrs of tuition coverage) is considered good/reasonable? is it typical to receive guaranteed funding for 5yrs?
funding?
- Thread starter aishen1
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Messages
- 10,827
- Reaction score
- 5,612
Most, I stress most, ph.d programs are funded. This typically includes tuition remission and a stipend. Stipends are moderate, and vary school by school. Anywhere from 10,000/year-20,000/year. Funding is often guaranteed for 4 years, after that is is typically on a year by year basis.
I did, as did everyone I know who got in (I entered in 2007, but its not going to be much different for the 2008 folks).
We're not "technically" guaranteed funding the whole time because we're a state school and due to the budget being somewhat out of their control, they legally can't guarantee. However, they've never failed to fund someone who needed it, so its not a concern😉
There are relatively few schools that don't fund students. Those that do tend to have relatively weak programs (though there are exceptions).
We're not "technically" guaranteed funding the whole time because we're a state school and due to the budget being somewhat out of their control, they legally can't guarantee. However, they've never failed to fund someone who needed it, so its not a concern😉
There are relatively few schools that don't fund students. Those that do tend to have relatively weak programs (though there are exceptions).
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 1,810
- Reaction score
- 9
Research oriented program last year, full tuition waiver + a very livable stipend for my area, for 4 years. The area matters a LOT for stipend amount... $15K at Texas Tech goes a lot further than $15K at, say, SUNY. I'm actually guaranteed my funding, but most of the time it's not "guaranteed," as Ollie, said, but everyone gets it.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
so do ppl just say 4 yrs of funding although they may be 'guaranteed' for a lesser number of yrs?
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 1,810
- Reaction score
- 9
Yeah. So, people in my program who are TAs aren't *guaranteed* funding each year. They wouldn't be funded if suddenly there were no undergrads taking Personality or whatever. But that would never happen. So, the University can't bind itself to that agreement, but they will get the money for four years, no doubt.
And you can usually get more than 4 years out of them too if your degree takes you longer (I can't, because I'm international and there's extra funding funkiness there).
Probably. "guaranteed" is often a legal term and doesn't necessarily mean there is any realistic chance of not being funded the whole time. In order to guarantee it they have to have x amount of dollars specifically set aside for you. Many schools don't have the money to set aside but short of the department falling apart due to a MASSIVE budget cut, NIH pulling all their grants out from under them, etc. they plan to and always do fund all of their students.
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 196
- Reaction score
- 0
I got offered RAships for ~20k/year for non-clinical psych programs. No officially guaranteed due to the reason above, but verbally guaranteed for as long as I am there (which will NOT be more than 5 years!).
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2008
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 0
So the stipend I'll be receiving is on the low side and according to current grad students in my program, its not enough to cover living expenses. What are some other options for money? I filled out my FASFA, but I've never had to take out students loans before (full ride to UG) so I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to financial aid.
D
deleted176373
I would amend that with there are a few schools with higher stipends (not counting Military students like myself.) I believe that U of Arkansas offers in excess of 20k to some students and USUHS offers a 25,000 stipend with full tuition remission for their civilian students. I am sure that there are others in the over 20k club... just not alot of them.
Mark
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 93
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm in the same place so I thought I would share what I've learned in the past months while applying for a loan. There have been some great posts on fellowship, etc. on other threads so I'll leave those alone. First, I'm going to recommend federal loans before you consider a private company. Please exhaust your federal resources before going elsewhere. Re: the FAFSA and financial aid, you should have specified on the FAFSA which school you'll be attending. In my case, the FAFSA is sent to my school's financial aid department which then looks at it and determines how much in federal loans I can get. The max for a grad student per year is 20,500. 8,500 is the max for subsidized (meaning interest won't accrue until after you're out of school and is need based) and 12,000 is unsubsidized (not need-based and interest accrues as soon as you get the funds.)
Obviously, max out your subsidized offer before you consider your unsubsidized offer.
Hope that helps!
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2008
- Messages
- 54
- Reaction score
- 0
The program I'm going to offered guaranteed funding for four years. The funding is in the low $11,000 range for 9 months (summer funding not guaranteed), but they said they've never had any problem getting people funded over the summer.
Does anybody know if the amount of funding that the school quotes you is pre or post tax?
Does anybody know if the amount of funding that the school quotes you is pre or post tax?
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2008
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 0
.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 93
- Reaction score
- 0
Thanks so much for the great link!
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 93
- Reaction score
- 0
pretty sure it's pre tax. i think one of the grad students says it works out to about $1000 per month.
D
deleted190534
Right...most of their grad students get $20-30k per year & can opt to teach in their 3rd+ years for extra money. (The few who don't qualify for the fellowships get about $10k per year.)
although i don't know much about the research oriented PhDs around the country, the few PhDs i do know about in the new york area don't exactly offer full funding. adelphi costs more than 20k a year, LIU costs 34K (they offer half tuition off to every incoming student), Columbia costs over 30K and only offers some tuition remission (and they're a research oriented PhD, Ivy league school), st. johns does offer full tuition plus a small stipend (8K), and at CUNY it varies from person to person.
so all in all the picture is not that bright at least as far as i can see. i am also writing this to say to everyone who is not being fully funded that there are many more people in your position, not just at the professional schools.
so all in all the picture is not that bright at least as far as i can see. i am also writing this to say to everyone who is not being fully funded that there are many more people in your position, not just at the professional schools.
The NYC programs are oddballs. Its actually the only area I've seen where programs don't offer much funding - I assume because there's enough people who want to go to NYC that they know they can get away with it. That or they're paying such astronomical amounts for the land/rent that they need that extra money😉
If you look outside NYC its actually extremely rare for traditional programs to be unfunded. I'd say upwards of 90%.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2008
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 0
I've read the financial aid stuff and I posted a question in the forum but they weren't sure. I just can't seem to wrap my head around this (lord, maybe I'm not smart enough for grad school after all, lol). If my school says that the COA is 17k, I have a tuition waiver (10k) and a stipend (5k) does that mean that I will only be able to borrow 2k in federal loans?
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 22,765
- Reaction score
- 5,186
From my understanding (which varies from average to not), you would qualify for financial aid through your class registration (current student), and you could get the subsidized loans at least. I'm not sure what the requirement is to get unsubsidized loans.
The only confusing part about this is when you do your taxes, as you have to claim your waivers and whatnot, but you shouldn't make enough money to have that bite you.
The only confusing part about this is when you do your taxes, as you have to claim your waivers and whatnot, but you shouldn't make enough money to have that bite you.
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,977
- Reaction score
- 7
You can typically borrow up to $20K/yr (or $10K/semester) as a grad student. The subsidized, of course, is obviously better but this is based upon your income and their requirements are fairly low to "disqualify" you for the bulk of your loan coming from this type of loan. If they think you make too much, then they will offer you less subsidized and force you to take it via an unsubsidized loan. Part of this is because there is a lifetime cap for how much you can take out in subsidized loans. Part of it is because they wish to make my life even more hellish... Or that's my rationale. 😉 When you are offered your financial aid package, they will advise how much you are offered for each type of loan automatically. There is no need to ask for it.
