Hello!
So I am going to keep this somewhat anonymous, but was hoping for some advice on my current situation. I applied to two PhD programs--have heard back from one and am still waiting on the other. I was accepted at the first program, but did not receive full funding. Although there are still some potential funding options within the university that I am hoping to receive, (and my POI says she is fighting for me) my current offer leaves me without about $10,000 a year uncovered. I was pretty set that I would not be able to make this work, and then recently found a ministry position in the area that would pay me about $10k a year, for not much responsibility outside of Sundays. So that, with the already guaranteed money, would put me at about even for tuition. So according to my math, I would need to work my part time job like 2 days a week for rent and living expenses--coupled with my spouses salary, to live comfortably. For the sake of brevity, basically what I am asking---is this insane? I have tried to justify the church gig as some sort of weird TA position that takes 6 hours of my life a week for 10k in tuition...So I would do the church thing on Sundays, and work 2 days a week for bills--is that too much with the workload of a PhD. program? The program is TT, and my POI is a perfect fit, and seems really excited to work with me. I just don't want to overstretch myself trying to make ends meet and not be able to do well.
I'm hoping to hear from option 2 this week, and if I get accepted there, and it's fully funded my decision will be a lot easier. But in the mean time I'm just trying to figure out how I can make this option work. I would be bummed if I got accepted to a place and couldn't make it work financially. In a weird way I would almost prefer not to have been accepted than have a possibility come this close and not be able to justify it. Any advice would be great!