Silly question. How is the stipend paid?

[lexicana]

I was offered $18,000 for five years. The first two years as a research assistant and the last three as a TA. My question is, how is the stipend paid. Is it paid monthly througout the year (12 months) or some other way. I am trying to figure out how I am going to live and I have no idea how it is actually paid.

[Tsujiru]

Yes, typically I would say stipends are paid monthly. Depending on the arrangement though, that first month with moving costs might be financially tight.

[Rachel B]

It all depends on your institution's policies. It could be monthly or bi-monthly, check or direct deposit. Since we have no idea what school you're referring to, your best bet is to contact them directly or even get in touch with a current graduate student who also has an assistantship.

[UnlikelyGrad]

Definitely institutional--from what I've heard anecdotally, it's split fairly evenly between monthly and bimonthly. MyU is bimonthly.

[Eigen]

Ours is bimonthly, but I've actually heard of some places that pay it by semester. I think monthly and bimonthly are most common, however.

One thing I'd make sure to ask is whether it stays constant throughout the year- I found out my first summer that our payments got cut by about 30% each check in the summer. The yearly total was what it should have been, it just wasn't evenly distributed.