Living expenses during grad school

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

neuro202

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
It is my understanding that one should not limit themselves geographically and apply to at least 10-12 graduate programs. Okay, but suppose this ends up being a location where you are unable to live with family or a spouse. How do you afford living expenses as a full-time clinical psych student without this support? The financial aspects of this are concerning to me.

What has your experience been and what would you recommend for others?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Apply to fully-funded Ph.D. programs. Stipends are usually enough to live on.

Also, apply for scholarships and fellowships. Once you're accepted, the grad program will likely be able to help you find these.
 
Last edited:
Stipends could be enough to live on, but this depends on your lifestyle. I like Woodford Reserve Bourbon and I dont like the Mcdonalds Dollar Menu.:laugh: Thus, my wife's income is spent wisely...
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
Stipends could be enough to live on, but this depends on your lifestyle. I like Woodford Reserve Bourbon and I dont like the Mcdonalds Dollar Menu.:laugh: Thus, my wife's income is spent wisely...

Hah, very true. It definitely varies from program to program (and even professor to professor) as well. Department-funded positions (e.g., TA/instructor) for students in the social sciences tend to be on the lower-end of the university pay hierarchy when compared to other areas (engineering, hard sciences, math, etc.). On the other hand, there can be significant variability in pay received from RA positions/research grants and externship sites, with some such spots paying you a decent amount.

Thus, it's possible that your stipend would be a livable wage, but it's also possible that it wouldn't be; unfortuntaely, my case was generally closer to the latter most years. However, the stipend, along with the tuition exemption, went a LONG way in reducing the amount of loan debt I've had to incur.

To the OP: beyond the advice already offered, if you are forced to consider taking on student loans, obviously look to subsidized offerings first. They can usually total a few thousand dollars per year, which may be enough to get you through.
 
I would agree that you should apply to fully or partially funded programs (Ph.D. or Psy.D., whatever your preference is). Without tuition remission and a stipend, I'm not sure how most people manage, as there are still tons of living expenses beyond the costs directly related to school. Sorry if this doesn't help much, but I do think it is important to look into the program's financial aid opportunities ahead of time, as it is nice to have acceptance offers that provide options with funding...and can be a rude awakening when people get to the point of deciding where to enroll and realize the actual costs involved..

PS - another consideration is that, even if living expenses are high in the location of your program, I would imagine that living in other less-expensive nearby areas, and/or finding other ways that current students cut costs, could become really important
 
First piece of advice... don't apply to PsyD programs unless you want to be destitute forever.

I would apply to fully funded programs but you have to think of a couple aspects: 1.) How much are you getting? 2.) Are they paying for your school? and 3.) Where is it located?

If you get a stipend of $14,000 that might be tight somewhere in South Dakota or in the Midwest... but thats impossible in LA, New York, or Boston. You have to think of how much they're paying you and the living expenses.

My program pays VERY well, about $18,000 a year starting your 3rd year on. That is very nice and reduces some anxiety about money.

Also don't forget about student loans, but be careful... you don't want to be too far in debt to where you can't pay it off.
 
I go to a state school in the south. My tuition is roughly $4.5k a semester. My cost of living per month is roughly $1k. It's important to note that I live in a low cost of living area -- my rent is $500 (I have hardwood floors and black faux granite counter tops!) and 3D movies are ~$6.

Funding at my school isn't terrific, but it's better than some of the other schools I considered. I have a MEAGER stipend and work on campus (but it's not an assistantship). I was able to secure health insurance through the job though.
 
I go to a state school in the south. My tuition is roughly $4.5k a semester. My cost of living per month is roughly $1k. It's important to note that I live in a low cost of living area -- my rent is $500 (I have hardwood floors and black faux granite counter tops!) and 3D movies are ~$6.

Funding at my school isn't terrific, but it's better than some of the other schools I considered. I have a MEAGER stipend and work on campus (but it's not an assistantship). I was able to secure health insurance through the job though.


omg where do you live right now?! I live in San Fran and my costs are triple that. :X :confused:
 
it's not easy living on a graduate student salary, esp if you don't have a rich parent or spouse to support you. check out the recent gradpsych article about being creative when thinking about this. babysitting, waiting tables, bartending, tutoring, etc. you get the idea.

i had tuition remission but not a stipend in my program. i was fortunate enough to find a researcher (outside of my program) who funded me for the 1st year. then i worked for a company that consulted with pharm companies (yes, I felt dirty, but I also had money for food+rent). for 3 years, i juggled classes, externship, research + a 20-hr/wk job. i worked CONSTANTLY the first 3 years and managed to take out only $5000 in loans in total. but I also didn't come out with that many pubs.

for those of you who are bilingual, you may consider tutoring other students or do some freelance translating gigs. i live in nyc (manhattan) and had amazing luck with rent (@ 700 / month). i shop at target and find bargains. and i do occasional babysitting, which is a nice break from all this psych stuff!
 
Stipends could be enough to live on, but this depends on your lifestyle. I like Woodford Reserve Bourbon and I dont like the Mcdonalds Dollar Menu.:laugh: Thus, my wife's income is spent wisely...


Also depends a lot on location and school. Harvard's clinical stipend is $27,600 which is plenty to live on in Boston/Cambridge. Denver's clinical stipend is about the same and some get even more, and Denver is an inexpensive city.
 
Although again, lifestyle still matters. It would be extremely hard to live without roommates (imo) in Boston on 28k. I lived there for a few years and was paying $1100 for a one bedroom apartment (not including utilities), which was tight on a 40k salary.

I'm now in graduate school back in the south and cost of living certainly goes down. My stipend is about 19k (with health insurance and tuition remission included) and it is very very tight. HOWEVER, I continued to choose to live in a one bedroom in a nice apartment complex (about $700 a month + much higher utilities than Boston)... oh lifestyle choices (it'd be much cheaper if I had roommates for example). I'll probably have to borrow some money from my folks (or get a part time job) to pay taxes on my stipend come April (which I forgot to budget for at the start).

It's doable but only because I made a budget long before I moved here (and back when I was working in Boston) and did my hardest to stick to it. Good news is that I have been able to retain most of my lifestyle choices (no roommates, pets, decent groceries, eating out on occasion, etc) even while having to add new ones (car expenses) without outside help (minus my taxes situation noted above lol). On top of that, I had savings from my previous job that allowed me to take on the heavier costs of the first month (due to moving, paying deposits, registering car, etc). The main difference is that I do not have enough left over to put into savings at the end of each month whereas I was able to before.

Stipends in my program range from 15/16k to 25/30k depending on whether it's a departmental/teaching assistantship, a fellowship (which is what I'm on), or an RA/grant funding.

Fully funded programs I interviewed at ranged from 13.5k at the lowest to 19k at the highest. Ideally if you get multiple acceptance offers this is something that is fair to take into consideration as well.
 
I'm looking at potentially having a similar problem next fall, assuming all goes well and I get at least one offer. :xf: This is due to the fact that I'm okay with going to live several states away while I work on my Ph.D, and my boyfriend . . . well, isn't. I'm debating between twisting his arm and praying that he's willing and can find a job to help support us wherever I wind up going, or leaving him behind and continuing to wing it on my own. Things have been financially tough during my time working on my masters (partially funded) and I'm curious as to whether anyone else has faced a similar dilemma, and how they resolved it. Would it be preferable to see if I could find a roommate, perhaps among the other incoming doc students? Advice would be greatly appreciated, on either the financial or romantic end. Thanks!
 
I'm looking at potentially having a similar problem next fall, assuming all goes well and I get at least one offer. :xf: This is due to the fact that I'm okay with going to live several states away while I work on my Ph.D, and my boyfriend . . . well, isn't. I'm debating between twisting his arm and praying that he's willing and can find a job to help support us wherever I wind up going, or leaving him behind and continuing to wing it on my own. Things have been financially tough during my time working on my masters (partially funded) and I'm curious as to whether anyone else has faced a similar dilemma, and how they resolved it. Would it be preferable to see if I could find a roommate, perhaps among the other incoming doc students? Advice would be greatly appreciated, on either the financial or romantic end. Thanks!

Oh my goodness.. +10000. I am in a very similar situation. Are you trying to have your boyfriend move with you, or will you be having a long distance relationship? It is very difficult to be in a relationship throughout this process, as if the stress of waiting for interviews isn't enough! I have been dating my boyfriend for 5 years. The problem is that he is very happy with where we live, and the thought of moving away seems to make him anxious. He is very family oriented, and nervous about finding a job. However, he does say that he will move with me without a doubt (hmm believe it when I see it...)

I am applying to everything from funded PhD/PsyD programs to unfunded PsyD. I already have debt from my unfunded MA program. I am VERY nervous about finances. If I end up in an unfunded PsyD program, I will easily have 150,000 debt when I am done. Ouch. Ideally...I will get into a funded program, and my boyfriend will move with me. He will have a job, and I will have funding. Worst case scenario...I end up alone in an unfunded PsyD program. Living on loans...trying to find a weekend job/assistantship. The stress of my relationship is really taking a toll. My boyfriend and I are starting to fight constantly, and I am very worried about how to financially survive in 6 years when I come out with that much debt. PM me if you would like to talk further. I'm sure I can relate on the romantic end :/

As for finances..can anyone offer any advice? I know this has been a hot topic on this board. Sure, the easy answer will be "just don't go to an unfunded program." I am trying my hardest to not do that, but if I don't get better offers, that is probably where I will end up. I am not getting any younger, I have done research in multiple labs, have clinical exp, a 3.9 in my MA program, good GRE, etc. I don't want to take another year off. For those of you that went a similar route..is there life after unfunded programs? Did you find jobs while in the program? Are you able to now pay off the thousands in debt, or are you drowning in it?
 
Top