PhD Funding Anxiety

[PsychQEH]

Hi all,

I am currently in my first year of a PhD program in Counseling Psychology and am starting to learn some things that I'm a bit unsure about and would love some feedback on. When applying to the program, it was stated, per APA accreditation standards for posting student outcomes, admissions and other data, that funding was guaranteed for first year students. For subsequent years, students are funded from a variety of sources such as RA, TA, GA, etc. but it was confirmed that most, if not all, of the students in the program are fully funded.

I'm have some anxiety over the possibility of not securing funding for my second year (which, my advisor states could be a possibility) and have looked into applying for external grants (i.e., NIH F31 or NSF Graduate Research Fellowship) to see if there are additional opportunities.

I don't mind taking out the loans (it won't be a lot being that it's a state-funded institution) and I can always apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program afterwards, but I wanted to hear from folks who have encountered this issue before and how they navigated through it.

Thanks!

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[deleted343839]

I can always apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program afterwards

Don't be lured into this way of thinking. Find your hustle. Be the TA/RA who always gets invited back to work the next semester.

Also, find out how many people in your program actually lose funding their second year. Your worry about this may be unfounded.

 

[calimich]

agree with all that has been shared so far. I also suggest you talk with current students to find out where they're funded through and which departments/campus entities have historically funded other students from your program. Talk with students who are nearing internship and will be soon stepping away from the line of funding, get to know their supervisors, apply to many sources. You'll find something.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Agreed with others.

Don't be lured into the trap of debt as an easy option. Hustle goes a long way- be timely in your tasks, be timely and complete when corresponding, take initiative to proactively deal with issues and help drive the project/class/whatever into its best direction, etc. This is good advice for getting and maintaining the preferred RA/TA gigs even when funding is not an issue. And like others have said, absolutely talk to others about the reality of this. Including that language is typical at many institutions because it provides a way out for the institution in case there is something drastic although it may (program/school dependent obviously) be a complete non-issue.

 

[PsychQEH]

Thank you all for the insightful replies! I will take these into account and start now in advocating for myself as well as build relationships across the institution for when the time comes that funding may not be an option via the department.

 

[Ollie123]

Agree with all of the above.

Don't be lured into this way of thinking. Find your hustle. Be the TA/RA who always gets invited back to work the next semester.

Also, find out how many people in your program actually lose funding their second year. Your worry about this may be unfounded.

And related to this...we just received word from our department that new rules were set regarding LRP. Individuals receiving compensation or research funding support from a for-profit institution are now ineligible. In the past, this was somewhat more vague. Given how ours and many other medical centers are currently structured (university is non-profit, but some portion of clinical work occurs within a for-profit practice that is a separate legal entity) - many folks with even a small clinical care role will now be ineligible. It sounds like anyone who excepts funding from pharmaceutical companies or industry collaborators will also be ineligible, though I'm still trying to get word whether that is the case. So taking pilot funds from a tech startup to test their app could make you ineligible for LRP.