how much do student researchers typically get paid?

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bayer

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i'm working 40 hrs/week in a lab this summer and getting paid. i've done 1 sem of research in that lab so far. what is the typical rate for students? i go to a big public school if that changes things
 
bayer said:
i'm working 40 hrs/week in a lab this summer and getting paid. i've done 1 sem of research in that lab so far. what is the typical rate for students? i go to a big public school if that changes things
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as much as you'd get paid at walmart or mcdonalds----minimum wage
 
This is entirely based on grants and funding of the lab or discretion of your PI. For me, I get paid $12 per hour(State school in CA) My friends got paid from $9 up to $15.
 
I got 10/hr along with research credit. It was pretty sweet!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It depends on the lab. If you are part of a lab that has a lot of funding you should be looking at $12/ hour. If not then you should expect around $8.
 
I go to a large public school, so research positions are very competitive. Thus, part time researchers aren't paid. They're all volunteers, as there are hundreds of people who are willing to do it for free. Full time researchers? They're paid at the discretion of the PI.
 
bayer said:
i'm working 40 hrs/week in a lab this summer and getting paid. i've done 1 sem of research in that lab so far. what is the typical rate for students? i go to a big public school if that changes things
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I started off as a volunteer.

Progressed to being paid minimum wage ($9.19 an hour)

Once I graduated, I was given a raise to $14.50 an hour.
 
I started out as a temp, making $15 an hour (after I graduated).

After a few months I got promoted to a salary- I make at least $20 an hour now, if not more (my hours are variable but pay stays the same).
 
I'm also at a large public university/medical center. My general sense from being around for a while is that students who are employed usually work part time for $8-$10/hr or whatever the going rate of work-study is. College grads usually make between $12 and $13 to start and are more likely to be eligible for benefits. With advanced degrees, specific technical skills (e.g., programming) or prior research experience, it's possible to start closer to $15/hr, though rare at entry level. There are also a lot of unpaid volunteers and students who arrange independent studies for college credit.
 
My friend did full time for $50K/yr with only a 4yr degree. I worked in the same lab occasionally at $12/hr. One of the big research schools in Chicago.
 
35 hrs a week for 16 weeks. 5400 stipend!
 
Gap year job as a research assistant at a large university and I make $12.50/hr
 
how often did you guys get paid? every two weeks? month? or was it a lump sum?
 
When I did it, I was paid slightly above minimum wage.
 
if its an academic lab its a salary

and its likely less than a MSc student (and they make about 1660/month)
 
around $10-12/hr for undergrads; $14-15/hr for grads
 
I'm doing a research year between M2 and M3 with a $29,000 stipend, which ends up being roughly $14 per hour if I work 40 hours per week. I will probably end up working a bit more than that though.
 
I got $10/hr for a research tech position at a midwest state school, then the following summer got $3200/summer for 9 weeks of 40+hrs/week in a summer research program at a medical school in Chicago.
 
I got paid around $15/hr as a freshly graduated master's student.
 
Last summer I got a $4800 grant for 10 weeks of research.

This summer I'm getting $10/hr
 
bayer said:
i'm working 40 hrs/week in a lab this summer and getting paid. i've done 1 sem of research in that lab so far. what is the typical rate for students? i go to a big public school if that changes things
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$3500/10 weeks research
 
TexasSurgeon said:
Dang for 10 weeks?! That's insane!
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Some PIs are certainly nicer than others 😍

Ten weeks is about the same as an REU, though...early June through the second week of August.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
Wait so your PI granted you the money through him?

I'm in a program...
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Yeah. He said he was able to request additional funding, I guess to cover a student under SURF.

Actually, a lot of grants have the opportunity for additional funding if you request it (well, generally if you're URM and/or female...mostly if you're URM, though, I think)...sorry White/Asian (male) folk.
 
Went to a large, state university. Massive amounts of research, but also extremely competitive for positions. I was really lucky to even finagle a spot that paid, though it was minimum wage. Be happy for any time of payment. I had to work for almost a year as a volunteer before I got my first paycheck.
 
$0. And I have been here for a year. And have made great progress. 🙁

I wouldn't even know how to go about asking for a paid position.
 
$0 for the semesters, but got class credit.

During the summer, I got a nice stipend 🙂 >$3000
 
My term time lab jo is $12.50/hr. The summer program I'm doing has a stipend of $4200 for 10 weeks of full-time research, so that's $10.50/hr.
 
I feel bad knowing how many people get paid and I offer my services in my lab like an ugly girl on prom night.
 
In college I put in 20-40 hours a week during the school year and got paid $0/hr. During the summer I put in up to 70 hours a week and got paid $0/hr again. My reward was my own project, three full years of research experience, some research credits, two undergraduate symposia posters, an honors thesis, a first author publication, and what I assume is a great LOR.

I now work as a lab tech full time. So far I've gotten another 1.5 years of research experience, my own project, put as lead on several others, four posters at national and international conferences (two of which I presented), two first author publications, and what I assume are two great LORs. As a bonus, I get paid this time at a rate of $12.50/hr.



My point here is that pay is the last thing you should be concerning yourself with in research. Focus more on what you're getting out of it that's going to advance your career.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
In college I put in 20-40 hours a week during the school year and got paid $0/hr. During the summer I put in up to 70 hours a week and got paid $0/hr again. My reward was my own project, three full years of research experience, some research credits, two undergraduate symposia posters, an honors thesis, a first author publication, and what I assume is a great LOR.

I now work as a lab tech full time. So far I've gotten another 1.5 years of research experience, my own project, put as lead on several others, four posters at national and international conferences (two of which I presented), two first author publications, and what I assume are two great LORs. As a bonus, I get paid this time at a rate of $12.50/hr.



My point here is that pay is the last thing you should be concerning yourself with in research. Focus more on what you're getting out of it that's going to advance your career.
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Impressive on that first author. Mad props.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
In college I put in 20-40 hours a week during the school year and got paid $0/hr. During the summer I put in up to 70 hours a week and got paid $0/hr again. My reward was my own project, three full years of research experience, some research credits, two undergraduate symposia posters, an honors thesis, a first author publication, and what I assume is a great LOR.

I now work as a lab tech full time. So far I've gotten another 1.5 years of research experience, my own project, put as lead on several others, four posters at national and international conferences (two of which I presented), two first author publications, and what I assume are two great LORs. As a bonus, I get paid this time at a rate of $12.50/hr.



My point here is that pay is the last thing you should be concerning yourself with in research. Focus more on what you're getting out of it that's going to advance your career.
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Dang that's solid.

Do you feel like the time spent researching affected your grades?
 
TexasSurgeon said:
Dang that's solid.

Do you feel like the time spent researching affected your grades?
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Not really. Granted I did run into issue a lot where I'd have a bunch of exams to study for, homework due, and papers coming up, while having to deal with the fact that much of my free time had to be spent in the lab, but that was just due to procrastination on my part. The few times where things got really bad I just took a day or two off.

It did impact my academics though. I had to take lighter course loads than I did my first two years in college. Not because it would have been too hard, but because I had to make lots of space in the week for research. I had it figured out that at minimum I needed to be done with classes at 2 pm on days I wanted to be in the lab, more ideally 12:30 pm. That meant I couldn't sign up for a lot of classes that I otherwise would have. Even with that though I still didn't have enough time to fit in all my experiments, so I had to find time in other areas (killed my weekends, came in on holidays like Thanksgiving and July 4th sometimes, would stay really late on weekdays in general, would take stuff home from the lab to work on in my dorm, etc).

What I find really funny though is that my full time research that I get paid for is actually much less intense than my undergrad volunteer research was.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
Not really. Granted I did run into issue a lot where I'd have a bunch of exams to study for, homework due, and papers coming up, while having to deal with the fact that much of my free time had to be spent in the lab, but that was just due to procrastination on my part. The few times where things got really bad I just took a day or two off.

It did impact my academics though. I had to take lighter course loads than I did my first two years in college. Not because it would have been too hard, but because I had to make lots of space in the week for research. I had it figured out that at minimum I needed to be done with classes at 2 pm on days I wanted to be in the lab, more ideally 12:30 pm. That meant I couldn't sign up for a lot of classes that I otherwise would have. Even with that though I still didn't have enough time to fit in all my experiments, so I had to find time in other areas (killed my weekends, came in on holidays like Thanksgiving and July 4th sometimes, would stay really late on weekdays in general, would take stuff home from the lab to work on in my dorm, etc).

What I find really funny though is that my full time research that I get paid for is actually much less intense than my undergrad volunteer research was.
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Wow inspirational. I have trouble fitting in 20 hours a week for research, much less up to 40 hours. :O

Did you fit in other EC's too? Or was most of your time dedicated to research?
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
Not really. Granted I did run into issue a lot where I'd have a bunch of exams to study for, homework due, and papers coming up, while having to deal with the fact that much of my free time had to be spent in the lab, but that was just due to procrastination on my part. The few times where things got really bad I just took a day or two off.

It did impact my academics though. I had to take lighter course loads than I did my first two years in college. Not because it would have been too hard, but because I had to make lots of space in the week for research. I had it figured out that at minimum I needed to be done with classes at 2 pm on days I wanted to be in the lab, more ideally 12:30 pm. That meant I couldn't sign up for a lot of classes that I otherwise would have. Even with that though I still didn't have enough time to fit in all my experiments, so I had to find time in other areas (killed my weekends, came in on holidays like Thanksgiving and July 4th sometimes, would stay really late on weekdays in general, would take stuff home from the lab to work on in my dorm, etc).

What I find really funny though is that my full time research that I get paid for is actually much less intense than my undergrad volunteer research was.
Click to expand...

Interesting. My main strategy for research is to clear out like two days a week and to go in early. Last semester I had nearly all of my classes MWF (9-2pm straight...) and then on TR i didn't have class until 3 so I would go into the lab between 9 AM and 3 PM those two days then after classes on MW. Going in early helps making sure I got the popular lab equipment too
 
Aerus said:
Wow inspirational. I have trouble fitting in 20 hours a week for research, much less up to 40 hours. :O

Did you fit in other EC's too? Or was most of your time dedicated to research?
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I had no other ECs. At the time I was pre-grad, not pre-med, so I totally neglected everything that wasn't research or academics. I did try out a few clubs at my university though, but I didn't ever find one that I liked.
 
I'm at a small school, so research is pretty limited. A professor got me on board with a mentorship-research program that last year paid a $3600 stipend for the student and professor, but at the last minute we were told that funding was being cut, so we just get the payment of our names in a publication.

There was also a very small/competitive program that took something like two undergrads and two grad students each from the Bio and Chem departments for 40 hours a week at $8 an hour.
 
I don't get paid in my current lab. In my previous lab, I got paid $9.00/hr (minimum wage is $7.50).
 
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