Understanding Stipends

[Philmajor]

I thought this was a simple thing to understand but it seems I was mistaken. When I received my offer it stated

"PhD admission comes with a 5 year funding package: full tuition, $20,000 stipend, healthcare insurance premiums, and 2 summer stipends of $3,000."

I took this to mean that the school would be paying the insurance premiums of $618/quarter? Wrong! I just received my stipend check and insurance is taken out of the $20K - does this sound right or do you think the accounting people made an error. The funding has been changed from previous years!

Thanks

[demondeac]

Hopefully it is an error, otherwise it sounds like the old "bait and switch" gag. If you have it explicitly in writing, then you should be able to get that as your package; it is a legally binding written contract as long as it is offered and you accept.

The only other thing I could think of is that the program may pay an "insurance subsidy" in which they knock a few hundred off the overall cost, which is the way they phrased it here at my current program. In any case, payroll departments at large universities make copious, regular errors. I know I signed on to TA an extra class for an extra stipend, and the payroll canceled out my regular paycheck and JUST gave me the extra stipend (which wasn't as much as my regular paycheck). It happens.

[rising_star]

It depends. "Healthcare insurance premiums" doesn't to me imply that they're paying the whole thing. They're probably subsidizing the premium.

P.S. You'll live. Even though my school pays my health insurance, I make several K less than that.

Admin note: I'm moving this to "The Bank", which is the section of the forum for money questions.

[Philmajor]

I have received notification from the Assistant Dean of Students the charge is an accounting error. The $615 insurance premiums are included in the package and I will receive my fully stipend of $20K!