NYU / Columbia Funding

[cquin]

Hi all,

I'm applying for my PhD in English Lit for next fall semester. I have a pretty large list of schools (twelve, to be precise) and am trying to trim it down a bit. Two schools I'm considering are NYU and Columbia. From what I've heard, their undergraduate financial aid package is absolutely dismal, so I wonder about their funding for PhD students. Anyone have any experience, or know the statistics? Are all (or most) students funded, or will I be competing against others? I would like my program to be as close to fully funded as possible; given this, should I cross NYU and Columbia off my list and move on to other schools? Of course, it's hard to do so, given their stellar programs and location.

Thanks in advance.

[jacib]

Hi all,

I'm applying for my PhD in English Lit for next fall semester. I have a pretty large list of schools (twelve, to be precise) and am trying to trim it down a bit. Two schools I'm considering are NYU and Columbia. From what I've heard, their undergraduate financial aid package is absolutely dismal, so I wonder about their funding for PhD students. Anyone have any experience, or know the statistics? Are all (or most) students funded, or will I be competing against others? I would like my program to be as close to fully funded as possible; given this, should I cross NYU and Columbia off my list and move on to other schools? Of course, it's hard to do so, given their stellar programs and location.

Thanks in advance.

My insomnia is your savior. I know NYU's stipend is a little lower than Columbia's, I forget how much, but you have a higher chance of getting a better deal on housing in Brooklyn (but also spend more money on transit). I currently go to Columbia. None of the PhD students here take out loans (all of the masters students do). When I asked upper classmen if I needed to take loans out, they were basically, they essentially didn't understand the question. None of my friends in PhD program at NYU have loans either, to the best of my knowledge. At all the top PhD programs at private colleges, one is given about 17-24k and that is expected to be enough. At public college stipends (and the area's cost of living) may be lower, and at cash strapped schools like Wisconsin and Berkeley there has been an increasing "you pay for the masters, we'll fund the rest of the PhD" trend in a lot of departments. To the best of my knowledge, most of the top private schools give the same stipend to all their students, whereas public schools are a little more diverse in how they fund (some funding all equally, some making funding very competitive, some making funding competitive only in the first year or two, some fund based pure merit, some fund based on what students can be funded for their work on specific projects, some fund everyone but unequally, some will not have funding offers for up to two-thirds of their accepted students while offering relatively generous packages to others--CUNY comes to mind here). At public schools especially, different departments within the school will fund in different ways even.

[anthropologygeek]

By asking here, the majority of the responses is don't go without funding. My attitude is, do cost benefit ratio. If let's say you take out 40k in loans versus a funded program but it will lead to a better job with better pay its ok. And about loans, if someone takes them out they won't admit it to a stranger.

[cquin]

By asking here, the majority of the responses is don't go without funding. My attitude is, do cost benefit ratio. If let's say you take out 40k in loans versus a funded program but it will lead to a better job with better pay its ok. And about loans, if someone takes them out they won't admit it to a stranger.

I certainly agree, and I don't plan on selecting a school that gives minimal funding and forces me to take out massive loans. What I wanted to know was not so much "Should I attend a poorly funded school?" but "Does NYU and/or Columbia offer decent funding?" If not, then I'll have to take them off my list and look elsewhere.

[cquin]

My insomnia is your savior. I know NYU's stipend is a little lower than Columbia's, I forget how much, but you have a higher chance of getting a better deal on housing in Brooklyn (but also spend more money on transit). I currently go to Columbia. None of the PhD students here take out loans (all of the masters students do). When I asked upper classmen if I needed to take loans out, they were basically, they essentially didn't understand the question. None of my friends in PhD program at NYU have loans either, to the best of my knowledge. At all the top PhD programs at private colleges, one is given about 17-24k and that is expected to be enough. At public college stipends (and the area's cost of living) may be lower, and at cash strapped schools like Wisconsin and Berkeley there has been an increasing "you pay for the masters, we'll fund the rest of the PhD" trend in a lot of departments. To the best of my knowledge, most of the top private schools give the same stipend to all their students, whereas public schools are a little more diverse in how they fund (some funding all equally, some making funding very competitive, some making funding competitive only in the first year or two, some fund based pure merit, some fund based on what students can be funded for their work on specific projects, some fund everyone but unequally, some will not have funding offers for up to two-thirds of their accepted students while offering relatively generous packages to others--CUNY comes to mind here). At public schools especially, different departments within the school will fund in different ways even.

Thanks so much for this. Very helpful stuff!

Hmm, this may be explain why I've heard sharply conflicting things about CUNY's funding...

[StrangeLight]

a few years ago when i applied to NYU for history, their funding package was $22,000 with a $2000 start-up bonus. this is before taxes. you can make that work, especially with a roommate out in bed-stuy, but it's not easy.

i've heard (again for history) that columbia offers just under $30,000. i can't confirm the exact amount, but they do offer more. once you get passed your guaranteed funding package, though (4 years?), columbia becomes very, very competitive. i know a lot of grad students in english and history at both columbia and NYU that had to scrounge the city and fight for TAships or stand-alone teaching courses at other colleges in order to get their funding. so they teach at SUNYs or CUNYs or BC or community colleges in the city. they make it work and get by just fine, but there is the added stress of having to find your own financing.

in short, i don't think you should cross them off your list of places to apply just because the money's tight. it's still doable. wait to see what sort of funding they offer you, if you get in.

[juilletmercredi]

I'm in a PhD program at Columbia right now.

The stipend I had was slightly over $30,000 (it came out to $2594 a month gross, or $31,128). I believe this was the institutional stipend because despite being on an NIH training grant, I am told that my stipend was "topped off" by Columbia to bring it to institutional levels, and the other graduate students who were on GSAS funds said they got paid about the same amount. It's been raised since I've been here and I'm on an NSF now, so I can't be sure exactly what it is, but I think it's actually slightly larger than the NSF funds.

The guaranteed funding package is 5 years here. You can also apply for additional fellowships to fund up to 7 years total. For an English literature student, you can apply to teach Literature Humanities or Contemporary Civilization to the undergraduates during your 6th and 7th year (or 5th and 6th - it's a two year fellowship) and that provides funding, although I've heard it's really time-consuming. Columbia students are only eligible for 7 years of funding from the university, though, and only 5 years are guaranteed; after the 7th year you can continue to study until the 10th year but you have to find external funding.

I'm in psychology, btw.

[samjones]

CUNY funding is competitive from the start. and you need to apply in Jan. you want to compete for the funding. if you do get funding, it usually covers tuition and can provide a stipend of $18-24 thou per year for usually five years. With CUNY, it is possible to get your tuition waived and a stipend through teaching positions at any of the CUNY-system schools. Another thing with CUNY is that in your second and third year, teaching is your fellowship assignment (through some funding packages) and so you get valuable teaching experience early in your career.

NYU and Columbia provide about $24-30 thou in stipend per year plus tuition. In general, $18-30 thou is enough to live off of in brooklyn, queens, upper/harlem/washington heights parts of Manhattan, the bronx. you'll probs have to have a roommate no matter where you go and/or live unless you find a cheap studio. really cheap one bedrooms are hard to find in NYC.

[dantete]

i wish i'd known about grad cafe when i was choosing schools to apply to. i decided not to apply to columbia because from what i could tell from the website, funding was incomplete...at least too incomplete for what i'd be able to manage. i also think nyc is so unbelievably expensive that i was trying to picture living there for 6-7+ years on hardly any money. though, in terms of funding availability, it sounds like i might have just been confused by what i read on the site.