PhD Tuition

[perrier]

Greetings, everyone...

A thought suddenly occurred to me just now, as I was contemplating about the my options of attending further school and studies. My queries revolve around monetary issues. I would like to ask for feedback from both current and previous PhD candidates in various fields (just to compare).

Are/Were you required to pay for tuition when you did your PhD program(s)? My programme is associated with musicology, but I currently have a few friends who are doing post-graduate work in various fields (statistics, psychology, neuroscience, etc.). While they understood that it was competitive to earn a phd studentship (ie scholarship) in the UK, they were nevertheless concerned that I even had to pay for tuition at all. In fact, they stated that as a phd candidate, I should at least be paid extra (living expenses covered) to attend or be enrolled with an accompanying teaching job. Was that the case for most of you? Were you completely covered by the school while you did your PhD? In my case at the moment, it sounds like that a little over half of the tuition is covered for three years conditional upon a few T.A. jobs, but I also need to support a couple of grand on my own per year, including living expenses (I do not have the formal details as I am still waiting for the formal documents to arrive in the mail). In theory, I am fully funded if I am a "local student" in the UK, but as I am not, I need to pay an "international fee", of which the tuition is twice as much as that of a local student. Does it sound wrong to you to pay for a PhD programme at all, and would you recommend me not pursuing it if I had to, and rather, wait for a programme that offered a full-ride, which is what is usually supposed to be? My impression was that in Music it is different, as there is less funding for this field, but I could be wrong. I am also asking DMA Music students for their opinions, but I thought your input could be helpful, even from a different fields' viewpoint. Thanks a lot in advance for your help and I appreciate the feedback... please let me know what you think. Cheers!

Edited July 2, 2010 by perrier

[Eigen]

I don't know anyone who has had to pay tuition for a PhD program (I'll stipulate in the US here, I don't know that many people who did PhDs outside of the country).

In the sciences, I was told that if you aren't getting tuition+stipend, you need to apply somewhere else.

Masters are a totally different bag, with an arrangement more like what you are suggesting- you get a TAship that covers a portion of tuition.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Eigen

[teacher']

Greetings, everyone...

A thought suddenly occurred to me just now, as I was contemplating about the my options of attending further school and studies. My queries revolve around monetary issues. I would like to ask for feedback from both current and previous PhD candidates in various fields (just to compare).

Are/Were you required to pay for tuition when you did your PhD program(s)? My programme is associated with musicology, but I currently have a few friends who are doing post-graduate work in various fields (statistics, psychology, neuroscience, etc.). While they understood that it was competitive to earn a phd studentship (ie scholarship) in the UK, they were nevertheless concerned that I even had to pay for tuition at all. In fact, they stated that as a phd candidate, I should at least be paid extra (living expenses covered) to attend or be enrolled with an accompanying teaching job. Was that the case for most of you? Were you completely covered by the school while you did your PhD? In my case at the moment, it sounds like that a little over half of the tuition is covered for three years conditional upon a few T.A. jobs, but I also need to support a couple of grand on my own per year, including living expenses (I do not have the formal details as I am still waiting for the formal documents to arrive in the mail). In theory, I am fully funded if I am a "local student" in the UK, but as I am not, I need to pay an "international fee", of which the tuition is twice as much as that of a local student. Does it sound wrong to you to pay for a PhD programme at all, and would you recommend me not pursuing it if I had to, and rather, wait for a programme that offered a full-ride, which is what is usually supposed to be? My impression was that in Music it is different, as there is less funding for this field, but I could be wrong. I am also asking DMA Music students for their opinions, but I thought your input could be helpful, even from a different fields' viewpoint. Thanks a lot in advance for your help and I appreciate the feedback... please let me know what you think. Cheers!

It doesn't sound wrong to pay for a PhD, if you can afford it. As I was interacting with current PhD students and students in the process of applying for one my impression was that being offered AT LEAST full tuition through an assistantship is a major factor in deciding whether to attend a program or not. Most of these people were recent graduates or young professionals (>30 years) and did not want to go into debt for years and years to come for the privilege of going to school 4+ more years, especially with the economy these days. But if you can afford it, it's your goal, and think you will find professional and personal fulfillment through this, I don't see why you shouldn’t pay. By the way, why are you going to UK? Most US universities offer full tuition and stipends to their doctoral students, as far as I know.

[teacher']

Correction: less than 30 I meant to say <30

[perrier]

Correction: less than 30 I meant to say <30

@Teacher' -- thanks a lot for your input. Really appreciate it! The reason why I'm attending the UK institution is because the supervisor I'm working with specializes in the topic I'm researching in... as far as I know he is about the only one (out of two) who's published a number of books on the subject and is currently teaching in a school (the other just retired last year, also from the UK). Based upon your experience and advice, I think I'll try to haggle for more monetary coverage in terms of international expenses from the school through extra T.A. jobs, if that is possible. It's worth a try, especially in light of the large tuition difference between the locals (who pay 4800 pounds) as opposed to the intl' students (10000 pounds). In any case, many thanks again.

Edited July 2, 2010 by perrier

[perrier]

I don't know anyone who has had to pay tuition for a PhD program (I'll stipulate in the US here, I don't know that many people who did PhDs outside of the country).

In the sciences, I was told that if you aren't getting tuition+stipend, you need to apply somewhere else.

Masters are a totally different bag, with an arrangement more like what you are suggesting- you get a TAship that covers a portion of tuition.

Thanks for the advice, your point about the tuition + stipend is good to keep in mind...

[JustChill]

My professors have always told me that if I'm not offered full tuition+stipend (I'm in the humanities), I'd never get out of debt. It also is an academic honor to have a tuition fellowship from your graduate school, so the thinking is that it's always better to make every effort for full funding (I realize how obvious this sounds, but believe me, there are tons of people who make the mistake of paying for their humanities PhD and then never getting out of debt).

[LockeOak]

I will agree with the others. I can't think of any circumstances where you should pay tuition during your Ph.D. I would argue that if you're not getting a tuition waiver and a stipend of some sort (a TA at a minimum) then the program obviously doesn't care much to have you around and you should look elsewhere.

[Hetty]

I will agree with the others. I can't think of any circumstances where you should pay tuition during your Ph.D. I would argue that if you're not getting a tuition waiver and a stipend of some sort (a TA at a minimum) then the program obviously doesn't care much to have you around and you should look elsewhere.

This is true for the US, but not true for the UK.

Full funding (tuition + stipend) for doctoral degrees is the norm in North America. It is NOT the norm in the UK.

Your university may have scholarships or funding that is available for you, but the UK universities do not offer guaranteeed funding in the same way that US ones do, and it is quite common to be offered admission without any funding at all; it is also common to self-fund at least part of your PhD studies. While I would encourage you to continue to seek funding, it is not guaranteed and the lack of complete funding is not the rejection that it would be in the States.

[mudlark]

And just in case anyone cares, tuition waivers are relatively rare in Canada. You pay your tuition out of your stipend. Of course, tuition is like, $3000-$5000 a year up here, which helps.

[NorthernStar]

Mudlark: not at U of T. This year tuition + incidental fees were over 7500 and expected to grow next year. This amount is taken out of my fellowship, which leaves me with 15000.

[mudlark]

Mudlark: not at U of T. This year tuition + incidental fees were over 7500 and expected to grow next year. This amount is taken out of my fellowship, which leaves me with 15000.

Youch! And of course I should remember that MBAs are even more expensive, as are some other programs. Sorry, I spoke too soon.