Stipend Levels

[Sandmaster]

Hi all, I hope everyone is having a great day. I had a quick question about the variance in stipend levels and what variables go into determining the amount of money the university is willing to pay you.

At my current university (master's) I am getting a stipend to perform an administrative action for an annual appointment. The system here is that the type of appointment (teaching, research, administrative) all have their own salary floors which are reserved for master's students and Ph.D students within their first two years (typically). Once a student earns their equivalent of a master's in their doctoral program they are bumped up to a new minimum, or if a student enters into their Ph.D with a master's already completed you start at that middle salary floor. Then the last salary floor is for docstoral students in dissertator status.

I was wondering how common this is? Some of the schools I have applied to and the few I have been admitted to just advertise a wide range for all types of assistants (one school is around $19,600-$31,200) for an annual 50% appointment. Since I would be entering into a Ph.D program with a master's completed, would it be common to have that move me up in the range a bit starting off? I am just not sure how the determination works on how much a school offers you. I would also like to know what to expect before getting any official offers so I can get a fair wage.

Thanks for any advice!

[Emily Roberts]

The system at your current university strikes me as unusually structured. I know for my grad school the only differentiation among assistantship/training grant stipends were due to which school you belonged to (graduate, engineering, or medical), and everyone was paid the same base rate for a given academic year no matter if they were a 1st or 5th year. (Some people might be paid more if they won a fellowship.) Those might represent two ends of the spectrum of how much universities differentiate among students to determine their stipends.

You might find the data in PhD Stipends helpful to narrow down a bit what you might be offered at various universities (disclaimer: my site).

[TakeruK]

I find that the structured funding like you suggest rare in the United States. They are very common in Canada though, where many assistantships** are unionized and your salary is defined by your level of experience. Also, in Canada, the normal progression is indeed Bachelor->Master->PhD, so a first year PhD student is, almost by definition, 2 years more advanced than a first year Masters student. 

In the US, since many people often go Bachelor->PhD and not everyone does a Masters, it is less likely for schools to pay more if you have a Masters degree. But if you are in a unionized position, you might find something like that. Since US schools are rarely unionized, you won't find this very much. Most US schools will treat all new PhD students the same, whether they have a Masters or not.

Some schools do give a pay bump when you gain PhD candidacy. I think this is more common for schools where your tuition costs decrease after candidacy (since you generally no longer take courses). This is also common in Canada.

(** almost all TA/admin assistantships are unionized, RAships are less commonly unionized)

[rising_star]

My PhD institution had different pay rates for master's students, PhD students pre-comps, and PhD students post-comps (so ABD status). The ranges you presented also existed. Humanities students were at the bottom of the range and STEM PhD students were getting significantly more (in some cases, literally twice as much per year) for their same 50% time assistantship.

[FishNerd]

At one of the school websites I was looking at during my PhD search I read about the different levels of stipend for PhD students and they had a similar structure that you talk about. The website said they bump incoming students who have a Masters up to the rate of those who have earned the equivalent of a Masters. Since this and some of the above comments seem to suggest that this happens at some universities, it might not hurt to ask if as an incoming student with a Masters you are eligible for the equivalent pay rate. They may not be able to do that if its not in their policy but I don't think it would hurt to inquire if you approach it right.

[Sandmaster]

Thanks for the info everyone. I guess I will just continue to wait and hope to get some nice funding offers in the coming weeks.