Funding

[futureapppsy2]

Hi all,

A question about what to look for in funding. One school I've been admitted to has offered me full funding guaranteed for the first year and guranteed tuition for years 2 and 3. GRAships (extra and interdepartmental)/TAships possible for all years (including first). I'm uncertain if this is "good" funding or precisely what to look for/ask when looking at funding options post-acceptance (other than five years guranteed=best, of course! )

Any guidance?

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[Jezebel09]

Hi all,

A question about what to look for in funding. One school I've been admitted to has offered me full funding guaranteed for the first year and guranteed tuition for years 2 and 3. GRAships (extra and interdepartmental)/TAships possible for all years (including first). I'm uncertain if this is "good" funding or precisely what to look for/ask when looking at funding options post-acceptance (other than five years guranteed=best, of course! )

Any guidance?

GRAships/TAships: what do they mean by possible? How possible?
Is there the possibility for full funding after year one?

 

[psychgrad10]

I was going to post about the same thing!

I was accepted to my 1st choice. HOWEVER, there is NO funding and limited GA positions and it's really expensive. But my other choices aren't so great and I really like the program. I've been looking all day for fellowships. I have no idea what to do

 

[JockNerd]

Hi all,

A question about what to look for in funding. One school I've been admitted to has offered me full funding guaranteed for the first year and guranteed tuition for years 2 and 3. GRAships (extra and interdepartmental)/TAships possible for all years (including first). I'm uncertain if this is "good" funding or precisely what to look for/ask when looking at funding options post-acceptance (other than five years guranteed=best, of course! )

Any guidance?

It's not good. What do they want you to do for fourth year?
Good is full tuition remission (plus fees) and a stipend of over ~20k/year (variable depending on cost of living in the area). Even at great programs they can almost never *guarantee* these kinds of things but often that's just legalese and everyone in the last 20 years has gotten a good deal.

 

[PsyDWannabe]

Ok, go online, ask people!! Guys we all have to pitch in so futureappsy can accept an offer and free up some spots for the rest of us

 

[futureapppsy2]

It's not good. What do they want you to do for fourth year?
Good is full tuition remission (plus fees) and a stipend of over ~20k/year (variable depending on cost of living in the area). Even at great programs they can almost never *guarantee* these kinds of things but often that's just legalese and everyone in the last 20 years has gotten a good deal.

Fourth year=TA/RAships... no classes the fourth year, so no need for tuition remission.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Depends on what the norm is for the types of programs you applied to. It's really all relative to that and what you're willing to accept. For me, I would take no less than the JockNerd package

 

[futureapppsy2]

hey can almost never *guarantee* these kinds of things but often that's just legalese

I'm getting the impression that may be the situation here...

 

[Jezebel09]

It's not good. What do they want you to do for fourth year?
Good is full tuition remission (plus fees) and a stipend of over ~20k/year (variable depending on cost of living in the area). Even at great programs they can almost never *guarantee* these kinds of things but often that's just legalese and everyone in the last 20 years has gotten a good deal.

I think this may be the case for clinical psychology and possibly some counseling psychology programs. But, is this really the norm for school psychology programs? I think I have only see one school offer $20,000.

JockNerd makes a good point about never guaranteeing things. I would find out what the upper-level PhD students at your school of interest are receiving. Maybe your school just cannot guarantee complete funding past one year, but in actuality does fund all (or nearly) all PhD students.

 

[PsyDWannabe]

I think this may be the case for clinical psychology and possibly some counseling psychology programs. But, is this really the norm for school psychology programs? I think I have only see one school offer $20,000.

JockNerd makes a good point about never guaranteeing things. I would find out what the upper-level PhD students at your school of interest are receiving. Maybe your school just cannot guarantee complete funding past one year, but in actuality does fund all (or nearly) all PhD students.

Very true, b/c some schools say "we don't guarantee funding past the first year but all our students have received full funding till completion...." or whatever, just to put it out there that anything could happen and nothing's written in stone. Jezebel had a good point, get it straight from the horses' mouths.

 

[Ollie123]

I'll second what others have said. We've had threads in the past where people just seemed DETERMINED to get a "guarantee", wouldn't take anything less, etc. and it just isn't going to happen most places. I think the norm is for schools to guarantee it for your first year and then have some sort of disclaimer like "While we cannot guarantee funding, we haven't failed to fund a student who wanted it in the past 30 years" or something like that. My program is like that...they won't guarantee it, but at worst the question is where the funding is coming from, even with the budget crunch no one has gone unfunded.

I also think anything around 20k + tuition is fine. I make a bit less than that, but am in a relatively inexpensive city (though still a city, it isn't rural). I interviewed someplace else that paid 25k, but was substantially more expensive. The third place I interviewed paid less than my current one, but cost of living is so low I could have lived like royalty.

In all honesty, I'd encourage you not to place TOO much emphasis on funding. Obviously, its important, and go somewhere that gives you good funding. However, I routinely see people here and elsewhere who make decisions based off relatively small differences in the funding package. Sometimes without even taking cost of living into consideration! If all else is equal, sure, take the funding into consideration. However, the purpose of going someplace with funding is to avoid needing 150k in loans to cover everything. Don't let a small difference in stipend amount sway your decision about which program is better for you to attend.

 

[JockNerd]

Fourth year=TA/RAships... no classes the fourth year, so no need for tuition remission.

You might have to take dissertation credits. You might have to carry a minimum credit load to qualify for a TA/RAship. If you do and those aren't remitted the cost is substantial. You'd need to talk to people at the program to figure this out.

I think this may be the case for clinical psychology and possibly some counseling psychology programs. But, is this really the norm for school psychology programs? I think I have only see one school offer $20,000.

I don't know anything about School psych. I don't know if it's any different from Counseling/Clinical, which is what my post was in reference to.

 

[Jezebel09]

You might have to take dissertation credits. You might have to carry a minimum credit load to qualify for a TA/RAship. If you do and those aren't remitted the cost is substantial. You'd need to talk to people at the program to figure this out.



I don't know anything about School psych. I don't know if it's any different from Counseling/Clinical, which is what my post was in reference to.

I know, and I appreciate your point of view. I just wanted to remind FutureApp that school psychology, which is her area, may not have the $20,000 stipends.

 

[lookitssara]

My school psych offer last year (which I did not take) was a guaranteed RA'ship until internship that paid $14K/year (and a couple other little extras). I believe this was a little higher than most. UCONN and UMASS both have high guaranteed funding packages, Syracuse is 12K...but the other PhD programs I looked at did not give tuition+stipend to all students, and stipends were hovering around $10k.

I think it's rare that a program guarantees funding before admission, but I would not accept an offer (PhD) that didn't have a 3/4 year guarantee, even if it was a small stipend. Better to get 10k/year than 20k the first and then get stiffed.

Also, from personal experience...don't put too much of an emphasis on the money. I saw a super high number on my financial offer and jumped at it, only to get here and realize it's not the program I wanted.

 

[Jezebel09]

*

 

[LM02]

Although this was a long time ago, my package did offer guaranteed tuition remission + stipend for 4 years, with the caveat that they have never failed to provide funding in the 5th year, if it is needed. It was clear that the stipend came from many potential sources (TA or RA), and that the details of the source would be worked out later. But nevertheless, the stipend was guaranteed for 4 years.

I'd be skeptical of finding a lot of programs offering $20K+ per year for funding. Most internships do not pay much more than that (sadly)! But while I think the total amount can be important, the more important thing is whether or not you will get a guaranteed stipend at all.

Also, you need to factor in the time period over which the stipend covers. The total spread out over 9 months is going to be easier to manage than the total spread out over 10 months. What are the prospects for summer funding? If they are slim, perhaps the 10 month deal will be better (even though you will have less gross per month, it may be easier to cover 2 months of funding than 3). But if summer funding is highly likely, then a 9 month deal might be better (more gross per month over the academic year without much worry about covering the 3 summer months). It's a lot to sort out.

 

[futureapppsy2]

Additional info: first year of full funding (tuition remission and 15-17k stipend--pretty low COL) and tuition remissions for years 2 and 3 come from a university wide fellowship, not departmental sources. All TA/RAships also come with tuition remission.

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

 

[travelspace]

Additional info: first year of full funding (tuition remission and 15-17k stipend--pretty low COL) and tuition remissions for years 2 and 3 come from a university wide fellowship, not departmental sources. All TA/RAships also come with tuition remission.

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

that's not bad, I think. one school offered me tuition remissions for 4-5 yrs; G/T/Rships + fellowship. I agree what others said: I would look for the program that can provide me solid training.

 

[JockNerd]

Of course finding a program that gives you the training you need is important. But, no program hands you opportunities and it's a lot easier to take advantage of or make opportunities when you're not worrying about whether or not you can make your rent payment.

 

[ILGirl]

Okay, so you will definitely be okay the first year. The second and third years, you don't have to worry about tuition. So, it is living expenses that we're looking at.

I would recommend talking to PhD students there. Find out how easy it is to find a RA/TA position there. Also, find out how much those positions pay. If it looks like they are relatively easy for PhD students to get, could you live on that money, or would you fall short?

If you can get a TA/RA position in your first year, save that money as a rainy day fund (since you already are fully funded for the first year). It can be your buffer for the successive years.

 

[lookitssara]

There are so few school psychology people on here, so I am going to try to pick your brain. : ) How long did it take you to realize you were in the wrong program? What do you wish you had asked before accepting their offer? What do you wish you had known before beginning the program.

I realized I was in the wrong place during orientation! I should add that I applied to a few different "types" of programs as well. I loved psychology, schools, and communities - interests that blur the lines. I went for a handsomely funded program in a new fun city as opposed to a less funded program in my college town. What I wish I would have thought of was not just my time IN the program but about how the program will result in my happiness AFTER the program. I could have survived here probably, but my current program (even though I can put all my emphasis on mental health) has zero clinical opportunities. I needed something more than research, I needed clinical and consulting and advocacy.

My situation probably doesn't lend itself to the advice you're asking for, but there is one thing I really wish I'd thought about: How passionate am I about the research I'll be doing in the program? I know I don't want to do mostly research when I graduate, so I need to really love all the research I'm involved in while I'm in school to make it through. Research fit is just as important as everyone says it is.

And this is a total side note, tangent, but....the biggest thing I've learned is that finding your research passion is worth its weight in gold. When I realized I was in the wrong place, I immediately started applying elsewhere. I then determined that was a terrible idea, because I still didn't know what my research passion was (not surprising, I'm quite the youngin with very little real world experience). Some programs may lend themselves to "finding yourself" research-wise, but I would not recommend this.

 

[ibs5002]

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