Are there Ph.D. minimums?

[Milo_10011]

From some of the posts, I'm getting a sense that there are some Ph.D. students out there who must be living on heating grates. My understanding was that a PhD student gets a stipend, tuition waiver, housing allowance, and medical/dental/vision insurance. But some of the posts I'm coming across have me thinking this is not the case. Can a few of the Ph.D.s tell me what the "norm" is?

[wtncffts]

It depends on the resources of the university. 'Full funding' is guaranteed at many schools, which at minimum includes a stipend, tuition waiver, and some coverage of insurance (in the US, that is). I've never seen 'housing allowance' as a separate component of funding; the stipend is supposed to be enough to cover living expenses. As you observed, though, many programs offer only partial funding, or even no funding at all; this seems to be more prevalent as a result of the economic recession.

[chaospaladin]

What school and program did you get accepted to?

[Milo_10011]

What school and program did you get accepted to?

None. I'm still way back at the M.A. part of the whole thing. But I don't want to get accepted to an M.A. program and then blissfully go along under a delusion for the entire time only to get the surprise of my life two years later.

[runonsentence]

To be overly broad, I'd say the answer to your question is tuition (full or partial), a stipend, and some kind of health insurance. I've never heard of a housing allowance.

However, it's really hard to say what a "standard" funding package is—that tends to vary by field and is just very specific to the university you're looking at.

For instance, English PhD stipends at state universities are often in the mid-$10k range, while my boyfriend is in the sciences and earns a stipend in the mid-$20k range.

Tuition remission can vary too, especially since some schools are strapped for cash these days (many state universities, for instance). For instance, I didn't bother applying to Florida state universities even though there's some great work being done in my field down there because a lot of people are only receiving offers of partial tuition remission because the state budget is in the crapper.

Health care also varies. My university offers me only health insurance; we have a crappy "dental discount" and no vision. And I have to pay for about $450 of my health insurance every year. Other schools may cover more. Some schools may cover dependents/spouses on health insurance plans, but mine doesn't.

[Eigen]

Our school health insurance costs between $1000 and $2200 per year, depending on whether your department kicks in or not. Can get it cheaper elsewhere, for the most part.

I know PhD students in the humanities with a tuition waiver + 8k or so in stipends, up to fellowships in science/engineering that are around 30k stipends- it is hugely field dependent.

Personally, I've never seen a school give a housing allowance, that's most of what your stipend will go towards.

I would say you shouldn't do a PhD without a full tuition waiver, but I'm sure there are some that would find it worthwhile.

[evolve]

My department covers tuition, fees, etc. and "guarantees 5 years of funding" - so long as you are willing to teach. My stipend for teaching this year was ca. $22k for the fall and spring semesters combined, and a little more if I were to teach in the summer. Because I am an out-of-state student, the department covers my out-of-state tuition and fees the first year, and I am required to take all necessary measures to establish residency by the second year, else I am responsible for covering the extra amount for out-of-state. We also get a decent health/dental plan (Anthem Blue Cross, I believe).

I'm in the life sciences at Berkeley.

[runonsentence]

I would say you shouldn't do a PhD without a full tuition waiver, but I'm sure there are some that would find it worthwhile.

I'd agree to never pay for a degree (tuition, that is), unless you're going into something that will give you a six-figure salary and thus make you independently wealthy.

[TheDude]

Full tuition waiver for my time at the program I am headed to.

Not a bad stipend (just shy of 20K) for 9 months/20 hrs as an RA. I think it rises by 1500 after 2 years.

Could suck a lot more, but if you take the stipend and see what you are paid hourly over 9 months it isn't bad. Now, if you can't set personal boundaries and working 40 hours for your stipend it might suck. You also should qualify for subsidized stafford loans which you can always bank and draw upon in times of financial need. If you don't use it you send it back.

I only have to TA for a semester or year...I can't remember which one.

On the insurance front. I don't know if the health fee is waived or not. I am checking that out ASAP.

Hope that helps.

Random:

Next item I am checking out is the lifetime learning credit. That might make a huge dent in taxes. I talked with my accountant about stipend taxes and he said it was a very complex issue with distal universities interpreting the tax code differently. He thought if I was a TA it should not be taxed, but as an RA it might be different.

Edited April 1, 2011 by TheDude

[Golden Monkey]

You can check a few places for reference here:

http://chronicle.com/stats/stipends/

[juilletmercredi]

<i>Could suck a lot more, but if you take the stipend and see what you are paid hourly over 9 months it isn't bad. Now, if you can't set personal boundaries and working 40 hours for your stipend it might suck. You also should qualify for subsidized stafford loans which you can always bank and draw upon in times of financial need. If you don't use it you send it back. </i>

This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with personal boundaries - I haven't met a doctoral student yet who truly only works 20 hours a week. You usually have to work more if you want to get the kind of experiences that will prepare you and qualify you for a job in academia later, although it varies by program and advisor. However, it is true that if you work it out hourly to 20 hours a week it's actually a pretty good rate - at my school it was $28/hour.

Also, when I've filed my taxes the last 2 years (2009 and 2010) that were 100% graduate training, I haven't been eligible for any education credits. That's because I'm not paying my tuition out of my pocket. A tuition waiver doesn't count as out of pocket, and neither does a fellowship that goes directly to the school. (I spoke to tax professionals about this to be sure.)

What you get is, like other said, dependent on the resources of your university. That's also going to be dependent on location, though. I am in a PhD program in NYC and our stipends are in the low $30K range (for 12 months) - some of the humanities departments are in the high $20K range (for 12 months; if they are 9 months it's the low-to-mid $20K range). I've seen that as a pattern across most NYC doctoral institutions, although there is one university here that is notorious amongst doctoral students for having really low stipends - sub $20K, although I'm not sure how true that is. That may be the norm in other places, but in NYC you will almost be living on a heating grate at sub $20K before taxes. Or at least you'll have a lot of roommates.

[neuropsychosocial]

This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with personal boundaries - I haven't met a doctoral student yet who truly only works 20 hours a week. You usually have to work more if you want to get the kind of experiences that will prepare you and qualify you for a job in academia later, although it varies by program and advisor. However, it is true that if you work it out hourly to 20 hours a week it's actually a pretty good rate - at my school it was $28/hour.

This depends a bit on the position and what tasks one considers to be part of the "job." When I was a TA, I was paid for 20 hours a week, but I never worked more than 10, except for the weeks of the midterm exam and the final exam. My coursework and research, including both my thesis project and a project that I worked on with my advisor, were on top of that, of course. Of course, just about every graduate student "works" more than 20 hours a week, but trying to limit the duties of one's assistantship to 20 hours is a good idea, if it's possible.