laobaixing

Any way to find out who made the decision on this and what their contact info is?

And the cuts that gutted the Department of Ed actually wound up adding $3 Billion in additional spending. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/oops-historic-spending-cut-bill-increased-spending-by-3-billion.php Infuriating.

They notify the schools about the successful and unsuccessful candidates at the same time. My school notified the accepted students first and then took their sweet time notifying everybody else - but it theoretically could happen all at once. They cut the budget for the Fulbright-Hays by 40%, so its fairly likely that grad student grants will be cut - I've yet to see any break down of how they're distributing the cuts between the various F-H programs. Since the cuts just happened two weeks ago, I'm guessing that's what they're figuring out right now. Last year the F-H notices went out at the end of April.

Oh, and if you're an international student you have to pay out of state tuition for your entire stay, which will tack another $14k on your fees per year. Out of state students need to pay their first year and then can apply for in state status - something that is really easy to get (You need to register to vote, pay taxes, get a California license, etc. not that big a deal - they didn't even look at the paperwork I gave them before they approved me) In the recent contract negotiations the administration agreed to cover a portion of the out of state tuition for TAs, but weren't clear as to how much. Your department might cover it, and might not depending on their own priorities and funding situation. Your department's graduate coordinator will be able to give you the info on that.

Santa Cruz is one of the more expensive places to live in the US - you can expect to pay at least $600-900 in rent. $15k is about what you get if you TA, and that's barely enough to scrape by. Most folks wind up taking out loans on top of that - especially if you have kids or other expensive habits. And I'm guessing that the average humanities stipend is $0. Most students at UCSC in the Social Science and Humanities aren't funded, and get their money from external sources or TAing. Oh, just saw that this was asked 5 years ago - I'm sure you've figured that all out by now.