Survive on a stipend

[eduforall]

Hello,

I was offered an assistantship to do my PhD and I'm so thrilled! 

That said, I'm offered a 9 credit scholarship + 23000 usd for 10 months per year including 20 hours of weekly work.

I'm not allowed to work elsewhere (on or off campus). Knowing that I'm an international single student, how am I supposed to survive on such a limited budget for 4 years?!

Is it realistic? Should I accept?

Thanks!

[francienolan]

Depends on where the school is located in the US. It’s such a huge place that 23000 could be great in a rural area but not livable in NYC, San Fran, Boston, etc. 

Of course you could stretch it with roommates and hopefully some sort of job in the summer months that could cushion it. 

[eduforall]

Thank you for your answer, @francienolan

It's in Buffalo, NY. I checked rent prices and it's neither expensive nor cheap. I won't be able to live by myself, for sure.

I have a meeting with Admissions next week, I hope they can help. Is it something I can negotiate?

[eduforall]

FYI:

I negociated and they offered a fellowship.

So happy! I didn't know we could do that. 

My advice to future applicants: always ask for extra funding if it's low. 

[Intlscholar]

On 1/26/2023 at 10:21 AM, eduforall said:

Hello,

I was offered an assistantship to do my PhD and I'm so thrilled! 

That said, I'm offered a 9 credit scholarship + 23000 usd for 10 months per year including 20 hours of weekly work.

I'm not allowed to work elsewhere (on or off campus). Knowing that I'm an international single student, how am I supposed to survive on such a limited budget for 4 years?!

Is it realistic? Should I accept?

Thanks!

Congratulations! Do you have any tips for negotiating funding? I don't know what my funding package looks like as of yet but I'd like to be prepared, just in case.