Billyboy

I certainly have no plans on living like a king and expect to have a roommate to share rental expense - I thought anyone here would know that but apparently not... The $1,800 amount is before any taxes. One should probably figure around 11-13% for income taxes (with the first year being less assuming you don't have a full years income.) Also in California you will pay another 7.5% off the top that is required by the state for your savings. (This money is a savings plan and can later be rolled into an IRA after you leave your program but will not be available for your living expenses) If this link will work below you will see that this appears to be an issue that has developed in the last few years and that California is becoming known for not being competitive with stipends. http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/CAGSSGradCompetitivenessPaper_072012.pdf (If the link doesn't work google: task force on competitiveness graduate support ) You may also want to be alert to the wording in your offer letters. Other offers have mentioned that the stipend amounts are expected to increase in future years whereas the UC is silent in this regards. Also of interest from the report above is that TA pay is the same system wide based on a collective bargaining agreement whereas the RA pay is determined at the local level. This may explain why TA and RA pay is different at the UC's with RA often being lower. All of this isn't to say to go to a UC, but go informed with this information and your eyes open, as the monthly difference over 48+ months starts to add up and it is disappointing to see that this is known yet remains unaddressed, perhaps hoping the students really won't mind. (They can always take on debt or get bunked beds as needed right?)

I was accepted into an engineering PhD program at one of the UC's in southern California with a 9 month stipend offer of ~$1,800/month. Of course, during this first year you try and match up with a professor that will offer funding for the summer and following years. This amount is a good $400-500/month less than other public universities that have also made offers. The department indicates they pay about the same stipend amounts for everyone so they do not adjust or supplement their funding offers. With the high housing and other cost of living I was really surprised that this UC is not more competitive especially if they want to attract and really work to improve the status of their program (which they say they want to do but it is starting to sound like lip service) Their program is actually ranked lower (mid-tier) than all the others with the better offers. I hope this is not a sign that the department is not that well funded and maybe it would be a mistake to go there. I haven't made a decision yet but wondered if this is common at the UC's and has anyone else noticed this?