$15,000 stipend (humanities) at UC-Santa Cruz

[Guest sipper]

If I find work during the summers, is this a feasible budget for Santa Cruz?

Also, does anyone know what the average humanities PhD stipend is at UCSC?

Thanks!

[Guest Hegemon]

I have no answers for your question but I also got a $ 15,000 TA assistantship stipend from UCSC and was wondering if that was enough for my living expenses. The say the money is for 3 quarters. Does this mean $1,600 per month (if a quarter means 3month?)? I'm used with semesters, not quarters... I will definitely need to do more research on the Santa Cruz area and find out what the rents and the general living expenses are around there... $1,600 may seem enough at first but I've heard that California is damn expensive...

Also I'm an international student and I won't be allowed to work during my stay there (except for my TA, of course). If you are planning to attend, I say we should share whatever information we can find on the school among ourselves (maybe e-mail each other??). What do you say?

[Guest sipper]

Hey,

I'd be very glad to keep in touch and pool our information. You can email me at hsilep@yahoo.com.

Are you going to be at the recruitment day in April?

[laobaixing]

Santa Cruz is one of the more expensive places to live in the US - you can expect to pay at least $600-900 in rent. $15k is about what you get if you TA, and that's barely enough to scrape by. Most folks wind up taking out loans on top of that - especially if you have kids or other expensive habits.

And I'm guessing that the average humanities stipend is $0. Most students at UCSC in the Social Science and Humanities aren't funded, and get their money from external sources or TAing.

Oh, just saw that this was asked 5 years ago - I'm sure you've figured that all out by now.

Edited May 6, 2011 by laobaixing

[laobaixing]

Oh, and if you're an international student you have to pay out of state tuition for your entire stay, which will tack another $14k on your fees per year. Out of state students need to pay their first year and then can apply for in state status - something that is really easy to get (You need to register to vote, pay taxes, get a California license, etc. not that big a deal - they didn't even look at the paperwork I gave them before they approved me) In the recent contract negotiations the administration agreed to cover a portion of the out of state tuition for TAs, but weren't clear as to how much. Your department might cover it, and might not depending on their own priorities and funding situation. Your department's graduate coordinator will be able to give you the info on that.

[Eigen]

Santa Cruz is one of the more expensive places to live in the US - you can expect to pay at least $600-900 in rent. $15k is about what you get if you TA, and that's barely enough to scrape by. Most folks wind up taking out loans on top of that - especially if you have kids or other expensive habits.

And I'm guessing that the average humanities stipend is $0. Most students at UCSC in the Social Science and Humanities aren't funded, and get their money from external sources or TAing.

Oh, just saw that this was asked 5 years ago - I'm sure you've figured that all out by now.

Just going to go ahead and note that $600-$900 per month in rent isn't close to "one of the most expensive places to live", in fact that seems pretty much average in most reasonably sizable cities. I pay more than that now, and I know people that pay almost twice as much as I do in some of the really high cost of living areas.

There are some places that will be lower, but it's definitely not really high cost of living either.

[StrangeLight]

yep. i get $15K a year for TAing, before taxes, and my rent is in the $600 range. i live alone in a working class neighbourhood. my colleagues either pay as much as $300/month more than i do to live alone in more affluent areas or pay $100-200/month less to live with two roommates. our funding differs a bit depending on whether we're on TA or fellowship years, but people can make $15K work. either they live in affordable neighbourhoods (which are actually way more fun and interesting than the glossy, expensive ones anyway), they live with a couple roommates, or they work summer jobs to afford more expensive digs.

[ChinaGrad]

Just going to go ahead and note that $600-$900 per month in rent isn't close to "one of the most expensive places to live", in fact that seems pretty much average in most reasonably sizable cities. I pay more than that now, and I know people that pay almost twice as much as I do in some of the really high cost of living areas.

There are some places that will be lower, but it's definitely not really high cost of living either.

I lived in SC for 3 years. It's more like $800-900 per month for a bedroom in a small 3-bedroom house... on campus grad housing was $830 per month for one bedroom in a 4 bedroom/2 bath shared situation. Family student housing was slightly cheaper, with a 2 bedroom at $1200-1300/month (master + small room for a kid), although they were cracking down on the problem with students who lived there illegally (claiming they had a partner or kids when they did not, etc). Utilities run another $90-100 per person for a 3-person rental situation. You might be able to pay less ($700-750) to live in a larger house with more roommates or to live further away from campus (the east side of town, away from campus, is cheaper). In all cases you'll be sharing the bathroom and other common rooms, of course. Last time I lived there, two years ago, a really crap two-bedroom apartment in Santa Cruz ago went for $1450, so I'm sure it's more than that now. Groceries can be very expensive there because your choices are Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco (you must have a membership - roommates, in fact, often split this cost), or smaller organic/local stores $$$ (great options when you have the money, though).

In case it helps anyone make a decision between UCs, I highly recommend asking around with current grad students. UCSD actually has a good deal for student housing. Torrey Pines and La Jolla are ridiculously overpriced but they rent 2 bedroom/1 bath apartments for $1000 *total* and provide a shuttle to campus.

In short, $15,000 isn't going to get you very far. When I lived there here is what I paid for 1 BR in 3 BR place downtown (for one of the two smaller rooms in the house): $780/month + $80-90 utilities + $200-300 per month in groceries = $1060-1170. The stipend is roughly $1500 per month (after taxes, working 10 months). Most leases require 12 months, so for two months you won't have that $1500 unless you find a TA position or reader position on campus (that's more like $1300 per month).