State of Funding

[SocHope]

So the reasons for applying to a PhD program in any given year are many and varied. Maybe you felt it was the right time to start, maybe you really wanted a change, maybe (like me), your GRE scores are expiring and due for their last huzzah before retirement.

But one thing most PhD applicants have in common is the question of funding. Mainly, are we going to get any? I've sent feelers out to friends in (mostly non-Soc) PhD programs, former professors, and other prospective students to get their opinion on general state of funding for PhD programs right now. I realize there are a lot of factors at play here (such as program type, institution type, specialization, etc.), but I've also been surprised by how varied the opinion has been on this. Talk of budget cuts or diminished funding are par for the course right now, but some people have been really optimistic, and others very doom and gloom. I'd like to know how YOU feel about it.

This is a just-for-fun poll. Current, former, and prospective Soc PhDs are invited to weigh in! Informed opinion, wild speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories are welcome. Maybe we can add a little levity to a potentially doom'n'gloom situation!

Edited April 8, 2011 by SocHope

[jacib]

At top private schools, PhD funding in the humanities and social sciences across the board have been rising (At private schools social science and humanities Ph.D.s in the humanities and social sciences get the same level of funding university-wide (except for Econ PhD candidates who get more). My school recently threw us an extra 3,000 for guaranteed summer funding because Yale offered something similar a few years ago and started calculating their yearly stipend including summer funding, making their numbers look higher. I talked with a professor who got her PhD from Harvard in the 80s, and she told me that no one did fancy research over the summer... people just got jobs (she worked as a typist). And debt was something that was much more common. I'd say, in general, stipends have been going up. At top private schools, one is generally expected to earn a Ph.D. without needing to take on any (substantial) debt. State schools are generally the same, but the stipends are generally lower (cost of living is also generally lower). State schools are much more affected, obviously, by budget cuts and economic cycles but I don't know exactly how exactly all of this translates down to department level effects on graduate students.

So the reasons for applying to a PhD program in any given year are many and varied. Maybe you felt it was the right time to start, maybe you really wanted a change, maybe (like me), your GRE scores are expiring and due for their last huzzah before retirement.

But one thing most PhD applicants have in common is the question of funding. Mainly, are we going to get any? I've sent feelers out to friends in (mostly non-Soc) PhD programs, former professors, and other prospective students to get their opinion on general state of funding for PhD programs right now. I realize there are a lot of factors at play here (such as program type, institution type, specialization, etc.), but I've also been surprised by how varied the opinion has been on this. Talk of budget cuts or diminished funding are par for the course right now, but some people have been really optimistic, and others very doom and gloom. I'd like to know how YOU feel about it.

This is a just-for-fun poll. Current, former, and prospective Soc PhDs are invited to weigh in! Informed opinion, wild speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories are welcome. Maybe we can add a little levity to a potentially doom'n'gloom situation!

[Doctor Jimmy]

My view is limited as I have not been around sociology very long. But considering most every school I applied to is accepting less people in their cohort than in previous years... I think that pretty clearly says funding is a little harder to come by this year.

[JohnBom]

It seems to me like the funding has been going up in prestigious departments, in both state and private schools, and down everywhere else. California would be an outlier.

[davolicious]

I only applied to state schools, and every one (regardless of whether or not they accepted me) noted that funding was down that that they were accepting fewer applicants than normal, and that they were taking other measures to be more fiscally sound. Some schools are faring betting than others, and some departments are more insulated than others, but my impression that everybody is feeling some sort of a pinch.

[jacib]

I only applied to state schools, and every one (regardless of whether or not they accepted me) noted that funding was down that that they were accepting fewer applicants than normal, and that they were taking other measures to be more fiscally sound. Some schools are faring betting than others, and some departments are more insulated than others, but my impression that everybody is feeling some sort of a pinch.

As a counterpoint to the "feeling the pinch", or perhaps just a different way to look at it, I know at least one state school (Wisconsin) that was notoriously bad for funding (apparently few people got it their first year, and had to compete after) has switched to full funding. State schools may let in fewer students, and may be offering less money in total, but on an individual level, from the little that I've heard, it seems like the trend is more money (that is, they are more than keeping up with inflation).