[Hopkins]

Hoping to chat with fellow Hopkins English PhD acceptees. If you're out there, PM me please!

[Grad Student 'Bill of Rights' re: funding, hours, etc.]

Thanks so much for sharing!

[Negotiating Funding Packages]

I never notice people talking about negotiating the terms of the funding packages they're offered from graduate programs. Presumably, the programs in our field(s) are already so competitive that many of us are hesitant to press the issue. But, as well all know, we also get paid miserably as GTAs, TAs, etc. 

 

Is anyone willing to share experiences or information on this topic? I'm in a position where, even though I've been offered "full funding" (I hate this term) from some excellent programs in my field, I'm still having a hard time accepting the idea that it's a wise investment to make--mainly because I have student loans that need to be paid of, like, now. I can't afford to make such a small salary for the next five or so years. 

 

I know that budgets in these departments are tight pretty much across the board, but there's got to be at least some wiggle room. I have a real problem with this idea that I should feel super accomplished about the funding packages that have been offered to me. "Oh yay! You're telling me I'm so awesome that I deserve not to be paid a living wage for the next five years? Thanks!" (sarcasm, of course)

 

No offense to people who haven't gotten in where they wanted (I've been rejected a lot of places, too), and I'm sorry, but this is bigger than our short term feelings of rejection. In the long run, getting rejected might actually be the best thing that ever happened to you. (Please don't ask me why I applied in the first place just because I'm resistant to the idea of subjecting myself to poverty for at least the next half decade.)

 

Ok, rant done. I'm just interested to see if any people on here have tried to push for better funding or know people who have done so. Thanks! 

 

I'm so happy someone has raised these questions. I don't have any experience with such negotiations yet, but I do plan to make schools aware of my other funding offers with the expectation that I'll be offered more competitive packages if possible. I was lucky to be told by a professor who contacted me with an offer to think of him as my "agent" - he wanted me to know that the school was willing to be aggressively competitive with their offer, and that I should feel comfortable disclosing competitive offers so that he could use the info as a lever for more money for me from the dean. This came from someone at a state school, a UC, for what it's worth.

 

I don't know to what extent this varies from institution to institution, but I do think it's appropriate to be savvy in negotiating - just as you would any other job offer - and to be critical of these funding packages, which in many ways are exploitative. We are made to feel like gods for being offered a shot at functioning as cheap labor, and I think the competitiveness of being offered admission to these programs makes us feel meek about questioning some of their terms.