drahton

Really that was helpful, thanks. I cant believe how the admission office didn't inform me about any of that, and worse, they are not replying to emails or phone calls! Yes the apartment is with utilities. And yeah it seems i should search for a new apartment asap. I thought all the numbers are exact, I didnt know that taxes even exist now I should know the amount of the taxes I will be paying. I thought that the amount they pay should be enough for on-campus housing + some money to survive, now I am discovering how naive my thinking was I am thinking how about a shared room, there are some on craiglist with 600/700$ per month and they are close to university. Do you guys think this is a good idea?

Thanks for the reply, If they take taxes out every month then I am really in a very bad situation. As for the apartment, it is an on-campus housing and they said that it costs 1169$ / month does that mean there will be also additional taxes?, having a roommate will cost me about 100-200$ less but it is still expensive. The problem is that I was assigned to the more expensive apartment complex and it is hard now to switch to cheaper ones because they are already occupied.

Hello everyone, I have been accepted to the CS PhD program at Stony Brook university this Fall. I received an offer of 17K TA and a 4K fellowship for the first year only. However I still don't get some points: When the offer says 17K$ per academic year, does that mean distributed over 12 months or 9 months? I'm interested in this because If it is over 12 months, then my monthly income is about 1400$, which means I cannot attend the university at all (apartment alone is 1169$ ! ) How the fellowship is usually awarded? direct payment at the beginning of the semester or distributed over months? I tried emailing the department, financial agents, calling, but alas no answers, and late replies, sometimes they took 2 weeks to reply to a single question and currently they are not replying. There is a danger that I might cancel my plan to go there because of their late replies. Anyone with similar experience or admitted to the same program I would be thankful if you can share your advice/experience.