The Taboo Topic: Funding

[runninggirl]

Hi everyone!

I literally just signed up and wish that I had known about this forum months ago! It would have been wonderful to deal with the stress of receiving rejection/acceptance/waitlist answers along side everyone else.

That said, I've seen a lot of discussion on the acceptance/denial process and even a new forum on where people are deciding to go. But what I'm essentially coming down to in my decision between the schools I've been accepted to is money. (Which is awful, I know, but financial constraints suck.)

So, I was wondering several things:

1. Does anyone know if some universities offer different students different amounts of funding? The program I'm most familiar with (did my undergrad and masters there) does NOT play the game of "We're going to offer THIS student more than this other student." Which, I really appreciate. But, I'm a little worried that the program I'm considering going to for my PhD does "play favorites", so to speak.

And 2. Has anyone attempted to negotiate when it comes to funding offers? And have they had any success? I know that the worst a program can do is essentially tell me no, but I don't know if that's really something people do at this stage in the process.

Thanks in advance for any insight/advice/help!

[GradGirl90]

Those are interesting questions. I'm curious to know what others think as well.

[rising_star]

People can and do negotiate funding. Search for it in "The Bank" if you want more specific advice.

[a little-stitious]

My gut tells me that yes, some universities do offer different students different amounts of funding, but I don't have much to base that on so go ahead and sprinkle some salt on that answer. 

But for your second question, yes you can absolutely negotiate. One of the programs I'm considering actually encouraged us to negotiate and let them know what other funding offers we have gotten so they can compete. I was able to successfully negotiate there for 4 additional summers of funding. . 

[Dryad]

On 4/3/2017 at 10:52 AM, runninggirl said:

Hi everyone!

I literally just signed up and wish that I had known about this forum months ago! It would have been wonderful to deal with the stress of receiving rejection/acceptance/waitlist answers along side everyone else.

That said, I've seen a lot of discussion on the acceptance/denial process and even a new forum on where people are deciding to go. But what I'm essentially coming down to in my decision between the schools I've been accepted to is money. (Which is awful, I know, but financial constraints suck.)

So, I was wondering several things:

1. Does anyone know if some universities offer different students different amounts of funding? The program I'm most familiar with (did my undergrad and masters there) does NOT play the game of "We're going to offer THIS student more than this other student." Which, I really appreciate. But, I'm a little worried that the program I'm considering going to for my PhD does "play favorites", so to speak.

And 2. Has anyone attempted to negotiate when it comes to funding offers? And have they had any success? I know that the worst a program can do is essentially tell me no, but I don't know if that's really something people do at this stage in the process.

Thanks in advance for any insight/advice/help!

Late to the thread but maybe this will help others. Imo, 1. I'd like to think that it's merit-based. Many places my friend and I applied to gave us varying offers. In my program, some students have to complete a lab-based component for their research. Seems fair that they'd get more to cover costs for research materials. 

2. Yup. You should always leverage your acceptance packages to set yourself up for success.