Typical Stipend amount

[marissaleigh77]

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I just had a quick question for current grad students about typical stipend/assistanship amounts... Is 17,000-20,000 (9 months TA'ship) a normal range? Do students take out loans? This amount is for a Cognitive program... are clinical stipends usually more? Also, do most students succeed in securing NIH fellowships.. or is that really difficult? Any experiences/stipend figures will help.
Thanks everyone!

 

[JatPenn]

That stipend sounds very reasonable to me, and is probably (depending on where you are in the country) on the upper-end of the stipend scale.

 

[marissaleigh77]

thanks...
thats good to know.. i am just not sure if it will be enough in my city- west coast... do grad students take out loans? I didnt think that I was going to have to consider it.. but ...

 

[JatPenn]

What do you mean "do graduate students take out loans?' Anyone can take out a loan, its not like graduate students are prevented in doing so for any reason, if that's your question.

 

[irish80122]

I think she is wondering if they normally take out loans or if this would be rare. I have no idea what the answer is, so I am just bumping essentially.

 

[Sanman]

From my experience, that is on the upper end for loans. Grad students usally take out loans to help them live, however I would try and limit that. Clinical programs generally have smaller stipned amounts than cognitive programs due to the fact that they are more competitve and have a higher future earning potential.

 

[psychanon]

I agree that 17-19k is on the reasonably high end of the typical stipend range. In my experience, clinical and non-clinical stipends are roughly equal within the same department-- I've never heard of anyone taking competitiveness or future earnings potential into consideration. Some advisors have more grant money available to supplement stipends, but that varies by lab, not area. As for the loan question, it really varies by individual---whether you have savings available, whether you have a significant other to share expenses with, what your spending habits are, whether you are willing to live in a small place with a roommate or whether you simply must have your own place, whether you're willing to follow a strict budget, etc. And of course, cost of living. Unfortunately, stipends are not always commensurate with cost of living. I get a stipend in the 17-19k range (actually for 12 months, so not as good as the OP if she has summer funding available), and I'm in a high cost area, and so far I've gotten by with no loans (but I've dipped into my savings a bit). Other people in my program always take out the full amount of loans available. It just depends on you.

 

[joetro]

In my experience this is on the high end for stipends, but a little below some fellowships, so it just depends what kind of funding you get, and obviously where you live. The higher amount is probably meant to offset the cost of living.

As for loans, I really think it's a person by person thing; some people do take them out, others don't. In any event, I don't think people are out taking hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of loans or anything; just a couple to a few thousand. It's also possible that these loans might be of the kind from the government with a lower interest rate; I'm not sure what the name of this is. Stafford? Perkins?

 

[SaraL124]

That seems like a very reasonable amount for a stipend. Most students in my program take loans to live on, but our stipend is about half of what you mentioned.