How do you live on a grad assistantship?

[shahman101]

On 4/16/2010 at 8:42 AM, frenchpress said:

To reinforce what some others have said:

Learn to cook. Not just "prepare" or heat up pre-packaged foods; that's just as expensive as dining out. Take something like Mac and Cheese for example. One box costs between $1-$4 depending on brand. You can go to Target or Costco and buy 2 pounds of noodles and cheese for that much and feed yourself for a long time. Keep a bunch of spices on hand to season things. Buy beans in bulk. Buy frozen veggies in bulk, esp. when on sale. And actually prepare the food. It takes more time, but it's MUCH cheaper and healthier. Make your own coffee. Cook in bulk and freeze meals so you're not tempted to eat out for convenience.

I also canceled DVR/Cable in favor of the basic network plans, though I might cancel that as well since most of my shows are available online anyhow. I reduced my Netflix to the 1 a month plan.

Examine your cell phone plan. See if there's a better one for your uses.

If I think of more I'll post. But the biggest thing is cooking.

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. I just wanted to add to my previous post that despite my income (relatively high for a grad student), I do not spend a lot, and save a lot. I have the cheapest phone plan. I am a pretty decent cook, so I cook myself. I also share my wireless Internet connection with my immediate apartment neighbours, and I do not have a TV, so no cable bills there. I think that lots of grad students complain about not having enough income, and yet they spend a lot too. There are a few others in my program who have 50" plasma TV screens in their apartments, Blu-ray players (remember a Blu-ray DVD is like $30 each!), and Blackberries with $100 phone plans. These are the people I find who complain that they need more money. Well, I seriously want to slap them in the face and show them reality!

[mmm35]

My plan is to buy generic versions of everything (except maybe shampoo and conditioner), to do netflix instead of cable, to defer my student loan payments, to stop going out to nice dinners, to not buy nice clothes for the next 5 years, and to live in cheap on campus housing with roommates. Also to be too busy to spend lots of money on entertainment.

But the reason I was posting was to comment on eating cheaply. At my undergrad school (and where I'm going for grad school) there are co-ops where a group of people all buy food together and eat together evey night. Usually you have to cook one night a week, but the other people cook the other nights. It is fantastic to have company for dinner every night and to have homecooked meals every night without cooking yourself. My old co-op would even save plates of food for people who couldn't make it to dinner. And most of all it is incredibly cheap to do this. Everything was bought in huuuuge bulk quantities and made from scratch. We literally had garbage cans full of things like flour and suger. I think it cost $400 to eat for a semester (though we only ate meat once a week).

If co-ops aren't your thing, I reccommend Traer Joes for cheap staples, and even cheap frozen foods to heat up. Then again my impression that Trader Joes is dirt cheap may be less true outside of a city where normal grocery stores aren't really expensive.

[red_crayons]

I think this depends on the school/department, but if you can seek other TA/RA jobs beyond your requirements (or even beyond your school), go for it. I truly don't believe in the "I don't have time" crap. I really don't. You just need to learn to better manage your time, not hang out often (not insinuating that all of you are drunk everyday though!). I take more courses than my peers and also work more than my peers, but I still can hang out with them when they suggest things.

I think some of the "I don't have time" stuff depends on the discipline. But for the field/specific department/type of work I'm going into, I agree with you, and I plan to do something similar to what you're talking about.

I'll at least be able to pick up a few extra hours of work for the first and last year, when I have fellowship; years 2-4, when I'm RAing/TAing, I might just have to stick to the stipend. Plus, one of my current jobs, in the same town as the program I'm going to, wants me for as many hours as I can work, so I have the opportunity, too. Basically, the money I'll earn there will go into making larger payments on the car I plan to buy over the summer, which will hopefully get me ahead of the game for the 3 years when I won't have a chance to work.

I'm also lucky to be going somewhere with generous stipends - about $22k for academic year, plus about $4600 for the summer (2 of which are guaranteed given my particular situation, and the other 3 are not guaranteed but have always been available where desired in the past). They give nice stipends, though, because it's in a very isolated location, and it's the only way to attract the best talent, especially in engineering and literature, where people could just as easily go somewhere in a better location.

As far as managing money, I have been poor for most of my life. It sucked, but I know my priorities now, and how to budget and manage them. For me, good food is key. I would rather eat something different and tasty every night than have money to socialize or travel during breaks. Next comes certain entertainment - working iPod, working computer, Netflix, internet at LEAST on my phone, with home connection secondary because of access on campus/at work/in library. If I don't have that iPod though, I just can't function. I enjoy repurposing clothes and furniture and household stuff, so I can always do that if I'm on a tight budget.

Lower on the list comes travel, socializing, visiting family (I've spent 3 Christmases alone since starting college). I figured these things out early, and my friends and family are accepting of it.

Living cheap is just something I've always done, because that's what we had to do in my family growing up, and sometimes done well... The year after I finished undergrad, I lived in a tiny studio by myself that cost $700 a month, paid my own phone bill and utilities, ate out at least once a week, went out 3 times a week or more, paid for textbooks, and bough myself clothes at least once a month on $14k one year. It was hard, but I did it, and had a full, exciting life.

For me, at that period of my life, it was important to KNOW my expenses. I didn't have pets or vehicles or children or other things that might cause unexpected financial issues to come up. Doing that, I could prioritize and enjoy myself just fine.

[karough]

Previous posts have mentioned taking on additional TA positions - well, my offer letter specifically states that I am prohibited from taking another on-campus job without prior approval. I am happy that they mentioned on-campus, though - off-campus jobs - here I come

[Katzenmusik]

Netflix, cans of chili/boxes of mac-and-cheese, a bicycle and library books. Staying busy and keeping out of bars!

[Phyllis Stein]

I really love your very no-nonsense, organized approach to budgeting. Living on a budget doesn't mean not living reasonably well, so long as you plan for it! And I too have a moka maker and I actually prefer my coffees to the $4 lattes you get at the coffee shops. I have to admit that I've fallen off the wagon a few times this year in terms of budgeting, and it really hurts! Stressing about money while in grad school is NOT fun, especially when it's your own damned fault for being to free with the spending. My biggest weakness is buying lattes (even though I love what I make at home, I find myself wanting another hit at school, hence the daily latte runs). This is going to stop asap. I'm also going to make more of an effort to stick to my actual budget (I have a budget but lately I just buy groceries as needed, hoping things balance out - not a good approach). I've been able to get away with deviating from my budget because I'm expecting a lump sum soon (tax refund), which I think is also a really big mistake. The more you stick to the budget, the easier it gets. I really like your idea of taking out $100 in cash at the beginning of each month.

Anyway, to answer the original question, I've kept my expenses reasonably low by not owning a car, renting a studio, not having cable. I've splurged on internet, a semi decent cell phone plan. I don't go out that much either, which suits me fine at this point. When my sig other comes to live with me I will be a little more flexible on this.

People might find this strange, but I think living this way may be good for the soul. I know many people who work and have a decent income who are quite wasteful and don't think too much about what they purchase, and tend to soothe themselves with unnecessary big ticket items, and also have more expensive "needs" (like two cars, bigger-than-necessary houses, etc). I used to waste a lot of money (before grad school, when I was working for a while) and I know I wasn't happy. So while I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm "happy" living like this, I feel like it's good for me for now. There are many things I like about living simply and frugally.

Good luck to you all!

Strict budgeting. I spend $45 a week on groceries, have a yearly book budget (and separate budget lines for research costs, conferences, etc.), and at the beginning of the month I take out $100 cash from the bank which is all I allow myself to spend on luxuries (this includes going out, buying lunch and coffee, purchasing personal luxury items, etc.). The key is to figure out a yearly budget, cut what you don't need and create mechanisms to force you to stay in that budget like avoiding the use of your debit/credit card on luxuries. If you can see how much you're spending its a bit tougher to over spend.

Three key things:

1. Learn to cook if you don't already know how to. By this I mean learn how to do more than just throw something frozen in the oven. Chinese takeout is cheap and awesome, but what costs you six bucks at a greasey chopsticks place be made at home for $1.50 to $2. I can make two portions of mushroom risotto for $5 if I want to be real fancy.

2. Be smart about groceries. For health/environmental/cost reasons we only eat meat once or twice a week. I never, ever buy meat unless its on sale. Then I break it down into individual servings and freeze it in bags when I get home. Chicken breasts are affordable if you buy them at half off. The only pre-frozen food we have is "good" quality frozen pizzas that we buy eight of at a time when they go on sale for less than $2.50. It's not a replacement for cooking, it's a replacement for ordering a pizza.

3. Investing in some decent but cheap coffee making equipment is crucial for me. At home we use a stove top moka pot and a stove top milk frother. The end result is the ability to make something that approximates a latte on the cheap. At my office I have a driver (Abid sells them as "Clever Coffee makers" I think) which lets me make coffee in my office without having to go buy it for $2 or waste beans making an entire pot that either won't be drunken or will be drunken by someone who won't chip in. Coffee station coffee always ends up being so bad since people go cheap with it that half the people on a floor go buy coffee elsewhere whenever they want it and go broke. If coffee is important to you it's worthwhile to just drop the money on good beans and equipment from the get go in order to save money on getting it from a coffee shop.

[Phyllis Stein]

Not so sure about that. I know a lot of people in different circumstances in my program and although I'm sure some of us wish we had the money that others were getting, I don't think there's much animosity. I think part of the reason that person's post was "voted down" is because it just seems like pointless bragging. The topic is how do you live on a grad stipend, which I think should be obvious to everyone refers to a meager income. Why would any of us care how that guy manages to live on 35k/year or how you live on your parents' dime? That's useless info.

Lol did you see how everyone responded so negatively to that? People get very jealous and bitter when you say that you have enough money for things. I didn't think you were flaunting it in a mean way or anything, I've just noticed that especially in the whole grad school culture people tend to get very mean and attack you personally if you're not living in poverty. For instance, when people learn that my parents pay for 100% of all my expenses and I don't have to worry about money when I'm in grad school they immediately attack me and say that I am the worst person on earth, must be lazy/stupid/dependent/not worth the dirt I'm standing on because I'm not paying my own way. Everyone grows up with different circumstances and some people end up getting higher stipends. I'm sure you earned yours, I just find this response to be very amusing, and sad in a way.

[Jae B.]

Am I the only one who thinks a grad stipend of ~16k/ year(assuming a tuition waiver) is plenty of money?

I've kept track of how much I've spent per semester in undergrad and it comes out to about 4k a semester (12k/yr). That doesn't include tuition or plane tickets home for the holidays but does include eating out as much as I want (probably averaging once a day) and buying everything I want (nothing expensive but I've never thought about money when buying a book or a new pair of jeans).

I only spent a maximum of $4,000 per semester in undergrad, as well, in a relatively expensive area to live in. I bought coffee or tea and some sorry excuse for a snack every day. But I don't have a car, rode the bus (for free around school), am a vegetarian, don't drink or smoke, etc. My entertainment is my computer -- free from a scholarship program -- and wifi. I only spent money on the basics. At first I didn't dress very well, but after I worked over the summer, I bought myself some dressier clothes. I've also started buying more textbooks, but some semesters I do all my reading in the library or online to save money.

Grad school is going to be tight, but with a TA-ship and summer work, I think I can get through this without loans.

[frenchpress]

Thought of more:

If your budget allows for it, buy non-perishables in high quantities when they go on sale. For example, there was a 50% sale on cat litter and litter liners back in March. I have 3 cats, so I go through the stuff quickly. I stocked up on it, which required a significant expenditure at the time, but a more significant savings in the long run since I'm still working through my stock.

Also, I agree about buying generics when practicable. Shampoo/conditioner/bras are the obvious exceptions for most of us ladies. A tip for other girls: men's stuff is SO much cheaper! Seriously, whether it's disposable razors, soaps/deodorants (and yes, you can find non-guy smelling scents...most of that is just marketing anyhow), or even workout clothes. I went to buy a set of warm ups the other day at Target and the women's pants alone were over $20. I went to the young men's section and got the whole outfit for $15. I wouldn't buy "real" clothes from the men's section, but for stuff like wind pants...I figure I'm going to look like an amorphous blob anyhow so why not save money!

[waldorf1975]

Getting a roommate will save you so much money. You'll pool your furniture and split utilities. The key is to get a good roommate who understands your grad-student hours and study schedule. Your department probably has a roommate exchange, and they can hook you up with a fellow grad student. A few other tips:

Cable: So much video streams on the Internets now that, with hulu.com and all that, you really don't even need it. Even paying for a show's season on iTunes is cheaper than paying your cable bill. Of course, as a grad student, you'll probably be too busy for TV.

Food: Get a rice cooker or learn to make it. You can "stretch" Chinese food like you would not believe with a few cups of rice, and then you won't feel bad getting take-out.

Whatever you do, fight the temptation to put purchases on the credit card, unless you have the discipline to pay it off every month. Otherwise, those rates will bite you in the butt.

Good luck!

[Bumblebee]

I will be using a software to help me control my expenses. I'll be cooking my own food. I've been doing it for soooo many years already, since I'm not an eating-out person. I don't smoke, I barely drink and I don't own a car (I'm planning on getting a bike). My big expenses come with the plane tickets. I'm Spanish and plane tickets to go back home in the summer and for Christmas are ridiculously expensive (I think I'll blackmail my parents: if you want to see me, you'll have to pay for my plane ticket).

And, most importantly, I'll stay away from Amazon. It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dangerous. Specially since I'm a DVD addict.

My only luxury will be a data plan for the cell phone.

Let's see if I survive!

[tourist]

I will be using a software to help me control my expenses. I'll be cooking my own food. I've been doing it for soooo many years already, since I'm not an eating-out person. I don't smoke, I barely drink and I don't own a car (I'm planning on getting a bike). My big expenses come with the plane tickets. I'm Spanish and plane tickets to go back home in the summer and for Christmas are ridiculously expensive (I think I'll blackmail my parents: if you want to see me, you'll have to pay for my plane ticket).

And, most importantly, I'll stay away from Amazon. It's soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dangerous. Specially since I'm a DVD addict.

My only luxury will be a data plan for the cell phone.

Let's see if I survive!

Hey there, I noticed you'll be attending IU in the fall. I will too, but in a different department. I was wondering what range of stipends IU offers. Mine will be 14k for 10 months. If you don't mind sharing, what will yours be? I think (and hope) that my 14k is enough to survive. Nice to meet another fellow, future Hoosier!

[Bumblebee]

Hey there, I noticed you'll be attending IU in the fall. I will too, but in a different department. I was wondering what range of stipends IU offers. Mine will be 14k for 10 months. If you don't mind sharing, what will yours be? I think (and hope) that my 14k is enough to survive. Nice to meet another fellow, future Hoosier!

My stipend is $14,790 to be paid in 10 months too. One of the grad students there told me it's around 1,200/month after taxes. I hope I can survive with that too. I'm planning on not paying more than $500/month for housing+utilities+internet (if you share, it's do-able) and leave the rest for books, food, cell phone plan and a little/tiny egg nest to pay for the plane tickets. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Nice to meet you too, fellow Hoosier!

[kdilks]

Cable: So much video streams on the Internets now that, with hulu.com and all that, you really don't even need it. Even paying for a show's season on iTunes is cheaper than paying your cable bill. Of course, as a grad student, you'll probably be too busy for TV.

Somebody isn't a sports fan...

[cesada]

Bumblebee - a bike in Illinois? I am imagining lots of slushy, icy tumbles in your future

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee - a bike in Illinois? I am imagining lots of slushy, icy tumbles in your future

Actually, it's Indiana. I'm planning on using the bike in the Fall and Spring. I know it will be hard in the winter, so those days I'll walk or use the public transportation. I'm currently living in Upstate New York, so I'm used to dealing with ice/snow/very low temperatures. And I'm a European without a car, so I'm used to walking long distances (in case I can't use the bike).

We'll see how I deal with the bike situation!

[thekidisalright]

I love this thread - thanks to everyone for contributing!

I don't feel particularly wealthy as a high school religion teacher, but I live for free at a boarding school. My stipend next year will be 10k less than my current salary and I will have to begin paying rent too. I suppose I will lack back at teaching at a Catholic high school as the days of prosperity!

A couple of questions:

1. A lot of you are talking about after-tax monthly income. I know the school will be withholding, but I can't imagine having to pay much on anything between 15-20k/year. Especially since medicaid & social security won't be withdrawn. What formulas are you using to figure out the withholding? If it matters, I'm single with no dependents.

[insert Liz Lemon lament].

2. I'm setting up my budget now to see how much I can safely spend on rent. What percentage of your monthly income are each of you spending on rent? Should the old 1/3 adage apply here? And are any of you attempting to save 10% of your income for retirement? I guess all these questions boil down to whether or not standard financial advice should apply during grad school.

I'd appreciate any responses!

ES

[red_crayons]

1. A lot of you are talking about after-tax monthly income. I know the school will be withholding, but I can't imagine having to pay much on anything between 15-20k/year. Especially since medicaid & social security won't be withdrawn. What formulas are you using to figure out the withholding? If it matters, I'm single with no dependents.

[insert Liz Lemon lament].

I'm pretty sure this is NOT true. I had SS/Medicaid withdrawn from my wages when I was making about minimum wage/14k per year, and I had it withdrawn this year, making (finally) enough to live comfortably on. I was working at 1 very legitimate (but underfunded) place when I was making those poor wages, too, so I'm pretty sure their accounting was correct. I had it taken out from my $8/hour student job as an undergrad, too. It was a lower proportion when I was making minimum wage, but it was still taken out. For the wages I've earned, SS/Medicare has always been a bigger chunk than actual taxes.

You don't get it refunded at the end of the year, either.

It also depends on the state and your deductions. A single person with no children with student loans in deferment starts getting taxed by the government at a really, really low amount - 10K or less? Standard deduction for one childless, single person is around $5500, and I forget how the one exemption (for yourself) adjusts it... I should know, I just did my taxes. Then, NY state charges EVERYONE taxes, so when I made minimum wage, I got my federal witholding back, but had to send half of it straight to the state!

I could talk about this more competently if I had tax tables in front of me. But the bottom line is SS/Medicare is ALWAYS taken out, and you don't get it back, and even if you don't have to pay much federal tax (which you'll owe SOMEthing for, surely), you should still watch out for state taxes.

Edit: Just for the record, for my 18k/year job (comparable to many stipends), I would have gross pay of about $770 and net pay of about $600. That's 23% taken out for tax and SS/Medicare. And I only got about $150 as a federal tax refund that year, and paid $75 state taxes, which means overpaying tax by only $3 per pay period.

Edited April 19, 2010 by red_crayons

[thekidisalright]

I'm pretty sure this is NOT true. I had SS/Medicaid withdrawn from my wages when I was making about minimum wage/14k per year, and I had it withdrawn this year, making (finally) enough to live comfortably on. I was working at 1 very legitimate (but underfunded) place when I was making those poor wages, too, so I'm pretty sure their accounting was correct. I had it taken out from my $8/hour student job as an undergrad, too. It was a lower proportion when I was making minimum wage, but it was still taken out. For the wages I've earned, SS/Medicare has always been a bigger chunk than actual taxes.

You don't get it refunded at the end of the year, either.

It also depends on the state and your deductions. A single person with no children with student loans in deferment starts getting taxed by the government at a really, really low amount - 10K or less? Standard deduction for one childless, single person is around $5500, and I forget how the one exemption (for yourself) adjusts it... I should know, I just did my taxes. Then, NY state charges EVERYONE taxes, so when I made minimum wage, I got my federal witholding back, but had to send half of it straight to the state!

I could talk about this more competently if I had tax tables in front of me. But the bottom line is SS/Medicare is ALWAYS taken out, and you don't get it back, and even if you don't have to pay much federal tax (which you'll owe SOMEthing for, surely), you should still watch out for state taxes.

Edit: Just for the record, for my 18k/year job (comparable to many stipends), I would have gross pay of about $770 and net pay of about $600. That's 23% taken out for tax and SS/Medicare. And I only got about $150 as a federal tax refund that year, and paid $75 state taxes, which means overpaying tax by only $3 per pay period.

Thanks for all the numbers! However my Teaching Assistantship offer specifically says that Medicare and SS won't be taken out. Perhaps this is a state by state thing? Or because it's stipend/scholarship money? This was also the case when I had a stipend from my Master's institution - SS/Medicare weren't withdrawn.

[Yang]

Thanks for all the numbers! However my Teaching Assistantship offer specifically says that Medicare and SS won't be taken out. Perhaps this is a state by state thing? Or because it's stipend/scholarship money? This was also the case when I had a stipend from my Master's institution - SS/Medicare weren't withdrawn.

I believe stipend $ are not taxable for social security/medicare, and I believe in some states state taxes as well.

[red_crayons]

Thanks for all the numbers! However my Teaching Assistantship offer specifically says that Medicare and SS won't be taken out. Perhaps this is a state by state thing? Or because it's stipend/scholarship money? This was also the case when I had a stipend from my Master's institution - SS/Medicare weren't withdrawn.

My school (Cornell) tells me that stipend money is treated as income. I tend to trust Cornell's tax advice, since with 10,000+ employees and 4000+ grad students, they have very robust and centralized HR and accounting practices. I'm planning on SS/Medicare being taken out, since it's taken out of all other forms of income. I will have to report my stipend (scholarship and/or TA/RA) as income earned on state and federal taxes, and pay taxes on it.

SS and Medicare are FEDERAL = same in every state.

Maybe, though, there are differences depending on the size of the stipend, or how it's classed by your university? Our stipends here come with restrictions that we can't work many additional hours, so maybe they fall into some class of exempt salary and they just CALL it a stipend, to confuse us and fall more in line with academic norms? Perhaps if it's classed as a scholarship and isn't expected to cover total grad expenses it's not taxed like income, thus the no SS/Medicare deducted??

Confusing! Maybe I'm sticking my neck out too far, and what I have to say only applies to my university!

Or maybe I'm in for a pleasant surprise and SS/Medicare WON'T be taken out... 10% more stipend income than I'm expecting next year... Can't argue with that!

[Yang]

http://www.irs.gov/irb/2005-02_IRB/ar11.html#d0e969

[mmm35]

For my school:

Fellowships - federal income tax only

School-year Assistantships - federal and state income tax

Summer Assistantships - federal and state income tax plus social security etc.

Though I assume the state taxation varies by state. And some places you may even have to consider city taxes, in case anyone wanted to be more confused

[red_crayons]

Thanks, Yang and watergirl. I'm glad to be wrong on this!

[TravelLadyBug]

I am not a graduate student yet, but I live a very frugal lifestyle as an undergraduate. I worked 5 part-time jobs at one time and sound as many scholarships as possible to fund my tuition. I bought books online and later sold them. I would share with other students - for example, I would swap books for a semester if we were enrolled in courses we already took. I also took out textbooks for months at a time at the library. Older versions of textbooks worked just as well for the most part.

If I went out, I would drink before and then only get drink specials. I know a lot of them in my town on all different days of the week.

Oatmeal and pasta are my staple foods. I don't buy meat.

I never go grocery shopping without COUPONS! Every time I go grocery shopping, I save 50% on everything by using coupons. I buy 100 or so on eBay for $1 and match the coupons up with the store's weekly ads. I get many free items or items for cents. For example, yesterday I got 2 BIG boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats and a dozen eggs for $1.50 total.

Friends help each other out. I have friends who can fix bikes, cars, computers, a friend who works at the movies and lets us in for free, friends that work at nightclubs and let us in for no cover, friends that work at coffee shops, restaurants, etc. All of my friends work together and help each other out. For example, one person gives another a free haircut if he fixes her computer. Find a talent and use it! Whatever you do, DON'T use that person if he/she is not your real friend!

Watch out for student discounts and military discounts if applicable. Also looks for discounts through organizations. For example, APA members can get discounts on car rentals, hotels, insurance, Dell, etc.

Thrift shop! I almost never buy clothes full-priced. Plato's Closet is a great place to buy and sell used name-brand clothing. Once, I got a dress for $20 that was brand new with tags, originally $60. Nothing was wrong with it at all!

Hope that helps.