Good deal?

[astroid88]

How does one know if they are getting a good financial deal? 

I was admitted to a PhD program in history. I've been offered tuition, healthcare and a $18,500 living stipend. They also threw in $2,000 a summer for language training or dissertation travel and $700 for conference travel. I would be living a mid-sized city. 

Is this good?

Thank you, 

Edited February 5, 2018 by astroid88

[psstein]

Summer funding is always good. Many programs don't give summer funding. Is the conference travel amount for the entire graduate career, or is it yearly?
 

As for the stipend, if it's a livable amount in the city, then yes, it's good. If not, it's not.

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:34 PM, psstein said:

 Is the conference travel amount for the entire graduate career, or is it yearly?

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It's annual. 

 

[Sandmaster]

Remember that many times the course fees are not waived, so that comes out of your stipend, then you have to take taxes and books out of that stipend as well. It is nice they are covering 100% of your healthcare, but you may need to pay for extra coverage (such as vision, or dental) so keep that in mind. Assuming you have enough left over after all of that, then yes it is an okay amount. It is good they are offering you summer funding because as @psstein stated, that is somewhat rare depending on the field.

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:41 PM, Sandmaster said:

t is good they are offering you summer funding because as @psstein stated, that is somewhat rare depending on the field.

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Now that I am being told that this funding is rare, I think it might be because of the nature of my area. Most people get language training in my field. 

Edited February 5, 2018 by astroid88

[VAZ]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:28 PM, astroid88 said:

How does one know if they are getting a good financial deal? 

I was admitted to a PhD program in history. I've been offered tuition, healthcare and a $18,500 living stipend. They also threw in $2,000 a summer for language training or dissertation travel and $700 for conference travel. I would be living a mid-sized city. 

Is this good?

Thank you, 

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I know exactly where you are talking about. Just be aware that you are also required to labor as TA or RA in each semester during your graduate school years if you don't get a first-year fellowship. It may take a big chunk of your research time. This the case in most of the big state schools. $18500 is not a lot of money if you compare with the amounts private universities usually offer. Another thing to take into account is that the stipend has not been raised much in recent years.

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:57 PM, VAZ said:

I know exactly where you are talking about. Just be aware that you are also required to labor as TA or RA in each semester during your graduate school years if you don't get a first-year fellowship.

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I'm hoping to get a fellowship that removes that need. 

 

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:57 PM, VAZ said:

$18500 is not a lot of money if you compare with the amounts private universities usually offer. 

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Yeah, I wasn't sure what other universities offered, so that was my primary purpose in posting this. I honestly thought it would be a bit more, but I don't think Minneapolis is too expensive with a roommate. I'm from Miami (FL), and I know people living there on a similar stipend. 

[gsc]

Your mileage may of course vary, but I wrote pretty extensively about what I think makes a good funding offer here — 

 

The no-strings-attached summer & conference funding are nice perks, but how are you getting the tuition and stipend? Fellowship or TA? What do you do after year five?

Whether or not you can live on $18.5k is dependent on the city and your budget. Do some research on potential rents, crunch some numbers. It's very likely you'll have to pay student fees. Depending on institution, these charges can be deducted from your paychecks (instead of having to come up with the money up front) but then that's less money in your pocket during the year. 

[VAZ]

 

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:01 PM, astroid88 said:

Yeah, I wasn't sure what other universities offered, so that was my primary purpose in posting this.

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Have you checked this very useful spreadsheet, which many history admits have contributed to in the past years? It almost shows the package information of every single school you may apply to. As you can see, a mediocre stipend is about 25K. Below 20K is rare, and 30K+ only exists among the very top private schools (perhaps there are more this year as stipend usually goes up).

Edited February 5, 2018 by VAZ

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:12 PM, VAZ said:

 

Have you checked this very useful spreadsheet, which many history admits have contributed to in the past years? It almost shows the package information of every single school you may apply to. As you can see, a mediocre stipend is about 25K. Below 20K is rare, and 30K+ only exists among the very top private schools (perhaps there are more this year as stipend usually goes up).

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I tried accessing it, but the google doc says I need permission. Is there any other way to access it?

 

Thanks.

[psstein]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:37 PM, astroid88 said:

It's annual. 

 

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That's fairly generous. Wisconsin gives $1500 the entire graduate career, though it's not tough to work around that loophole.

As others have noted, it's important to know what you have to do for the money (TA/Fellowship? What happens after 5 years?, etc.).

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:39 PM, psstein said:

As others have noted, it's important to know what you have to do for the money (TA/Fellowship? What happens after 5 years?, etc.).

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I've applied to FLAS, so that's where the money would be coming from for the first year. If I receive that, I won't have to TA. If I do not get FLAS, I will be funded by the department and have to TA. 

[Ragu]

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:29 PM, astroid88 said:

I tried accessing it, but the google doc says I need permission. Is there any other way to access it?

 

Thanks.

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I think someone locked the google doc by accident this morning. Hopefully it will get fixed soon. 

[Sandmaster]

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:01 PM, astroid88 said:

I'm hoping to get a fellowship that removes that need. 

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure what other universities offered, so that was my primary purpose in posting this. I honestly thought it would be a bit more, but I don't think Minneapolis is too expensive with a roommate. I'm from Miami (FL), and I know people living there on a similar stipend. 

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Is that a university wide minimum? I also got into UMN but haven't received a funded offer yet. I was told it comes next month if I am funded, or not. I was hoping the offer would be over 20k.

[psstein]

  On 2/5/2018 at 6:41 PM, astroid88 said:

I've applied to FLAS, so that's where the money would be coming from for the first year. If I receive that, I won't have to TA. If I do not get FLAS, I will be funded by the department and have to TA. 

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Based on the UMN website, FLAS is about $15,000 for the year (it's the same at Wisconsin; the amount hasn't gone up in almost a decade).

[astroid88]

  On 2/5/2018 at 8:41 PM, psstein said:

Based on the UMN website, FLAS is about $15,000 for the year (it's the same at Wisconsin; the amount hasn't gone up in almost a decade).

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The department gives the rest. 

Either way I get $18,500. I just hope it's through FLAS.

Edited February 5, 2018 by astroid88

[OHSP]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:41 PM, Sandmaster said:

Remember that many times the course fees are not waived, so that comes out of your stipend, then you have to take taxes and books out of that stipend as well. 

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I may be wrong, because I don't know every school, but I think that's pretty rare in history departments--I don't know of anyone who's paying for tuition out of their stipend.

[dr. t]

  On 2/5/2018 at 5:28 PM, astroid88 said:

How does one know if they are getting a good financial deal? 

I was admitted to a PhD program in history. I've been offered tuition, healthcare and a $18,500 living stipend. They also threw in $2,000 a summer for language training or dissertation travel and $700 for conference travel. I would be living a mid-sized city. 

Is this good?

Thank you, 

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It's not terrible; pretty standard for a state school, but low for private. If health insurance isn't included, it's kinda bad, though.

[Manuscriptess]

  On 2/5/2018 at 10:53 PM, telkanuru said:

It's not terrible; pretty standard for a state school, but low for private. If health insurance isn't included, it's kinda bad, though.

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Generally speaking does insurance for most schools also include dental and visual?

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

Just wanna chime in, I think there is a website where you can get a general look at PhD stipends: http://www.phdstipends.com/

Usually I'd also look at the LW ratio. And whenever I feel like I've begun to fantasize about a great funding package (for PhD programs in History), I check out the package offered by the same school to folks who study mathematics. 

Hope this helps.

cheers,

[pudewen]

  On 2/5/2018 at 10:59 PM, Manuscriptess said:

Generally speaking does insurance for most schools also include dental and visual?

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Generally speaking, no.

[Manuscriptess]

  On 2/6/2018 at 2:18 PM, pudewen said:

Generally speaking, no.

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Ugh! Better get my cleaning now while I still have insurance, then.

[pim81590]

@Manuscriptess Hi--I'm not yet enrolled in a PhD program, but I had dental and vision even for my Master's program, as did everyone else in various other programs at the same school (including M.A. and PhD students)...so I think it really depends on who the school partners with for insurance. Either way, hope you get yours included wherever you decide to go!  

[pudewen]

  On 2/6/2018 at 3:15 PM, pim81590 said:

@Manuscriptess Hi--I'm not yet enrolled in a PhD program, but I had dental and vision even for my Master's program, as did everyone else in various other programs at the same school (including M.A. and PhD students)...so I think it really depends on who the school partners with for insurance. Either way, hope you get yours included wherever you decide to go!  

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Were you at a school with a grad student union? Not to get political, but there's definitely a correlation.

[Sandmaster]

  On 2/5/2018 at 10:44 PM, OHSP said:

I may be wrong, because I don't know every school, but I think that's pretty rare in history departments--I don't know of anyone who's paying for tuition out of their stipend.

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Not tuition usually, but the course fees and university fees are typically not covered. Those typically come out of your stipend.