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Non-Cumulative Stipend? Help!


derbderb

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Is it normal for a supervisor to offer a non-cumulative scholarship? I am affiliated both with the school of my masters program and my supervisor's research institute -- the latter guarantees minimum funding for all students accepted. Supervisors at this institute can decide whether or not they allow grad students to accumulate funding in addition to the minimum. Unfortunately, my supervisor does not allow any graduate students to accumulate funding, so any scholarships we receive result in a reduction of the offered stipend. Unfortunately, with this reduction it is impossible to pay for my tuition without a student loan or a second job (TAing excluded -- although my department offers no TA positions and I've had no success trying to find one elsewhere) which seems crazy given I've been awarded two additional scholarships for this year! Is this  normal? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm at a Canadian school paying out-of-province fees and extremely worried about how I'm going to make this work! My supervisor applies this policy to all students but no one has ever actually asked about being allowed to accumulate some of their scholarship to cover tuition -- would it be a bad idea for me to try and negotiate this? Thanks!

 

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I have friends in other fields (mostly humanities) who have this sort of funding arrangement, so it's not unheard of, though I don't know how common it is. I think it's fair to try and negotiate this, since we're talking about covering tuition here, not extra income for you. Seems vey basic to me, and worth a shot. What have you got to lose by trying?

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Is it normal for a supervisor to offer a non-cumulative scholarship? I am affiliated both with the school of my masters program and my supervisor's research institute -- the latter guarantees minimum funding for all students accepted. Supervisors at this institute can decide whether or not they allow grad students to accumulate funding in addition to the minimum. Unfortunately, my supervisor does not allow any graduate students to accumulate funding, so any scholarships we receive result in a reduction of the offered stipend. Unfortunately, with this reduction it is impossible to pay for my tuition without a student loan or a second job (TAing excluded -- although my department offers no TA positions and I've had no success trying to find one elsewhere) which seems crazy given I've been awarded two additional scholarships for this year! Is this  normal? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm at a Canadian school paying out-of-province fees and extremely worried about how I'm going to make this work! My supervisor applies this policy to all students but no one has ever actually asked about being allowed to accumulate some of their scholarship to cover tuition -- would it be a bad idea for me to try and negotiate this? Thanks!

 

 

I'm experiencing something sort of like this with regard to "stipend clawback" with a SSHRC. So, since I've secured the award, my minimum stipend from the program is now off the table and I'm "externally-funded" now. My situation is non-negotiable, but there's several distinctions between my case and yours:

- My award covers my tuition AND provides money to live off of. But, I'm also in-province and in a social science PhD - if you're out of province AND in a pricey MA (maybe a professional one?) than your costs might be quite a bit different from mine.

- The "clawback" is a departmental decision (the fact that the arrangement in your program is dependent upon/determined by your SUPERVISOR is an unfamiliar dynamic to me).

- There are ample TA-ships available in my department to supplement.

 

I think that fuzzy makes a good point that you should have a go at negotiating. Before you approach your supervisor though, I'd encourage you to do a few things:

- Talk to your departmental/program's administrative person to gauge whether or not they're aware of a situation where someone successfully negotiated this. Such arrangements will have come to their attention, and this is a "low stakes" conversation where you can do the recon to establish some precedent (which would aid your negotiation with your supervisor). If this has NEVER EVER happened, you could ask this person what students in your position typically DO in order to supplement/get through.

- If you're at a Canadian institute with a Union, you should get acquainted with your collective agreement and then, maybe, a union rep or steward. Your union might have either (1) funds to defray costs or (2) info on how one goes about securing TA posts from other programs and departments, where possible (even if you can't get a TA thing, there may be other avenues for work that at least pay you well for your time, such as invigilating undergrad exams, which you can mostly do regardless of your departmental/program orientation). Also, you don't mention any RA prospects, but perhaps that's another avenue that could be pursued?

- Again, I'm not sure if this is a professional MA or what, but if it's possible, you could talk to PhD students or former students who did your MA program and find out what they did.

 

HTH! Good luck!

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