Negotiating Funding?

[cicada123]

The schools I've been accepted to/waitlisted at all offer fairly good funding (some, very good)--all are fully funded; teaching requirements are reasonable; and two of them have offered additional fellowships on top. One of the ones I've been accepted to offers four years of really good funding and one year that is so-so.... It seems a little random the way they calculated the package year by year, and I'm not sure why in that particular year the funding drops a couple thousand dollars. In any case, I'd like to negotiate with this school about that year specifically. My other two schools offer more funding overall because of the drop in funding for that year at the third school. Does anyone have any advice about how I should go about bringing this topic up? Should I mention the other offers to the third school?

[Sadiespaw]

Good topic. Negotiating funding is a strange situation. I'd say something along the lines of, "school x has offered better funding, but I really like your program - can you come any closer to what they have offered?" But that's just my two cents. I'm definitely curious how these conversations have gone for people in the past.

[antihumanist]

Good topic. Negotiating funding is a strange situation. I'd say something along the lines of, "school x has offered better funding, but I really like your program - can you come any closer to what they have offered?" But that's just my two cents. I'm definitely curious how these conversations have gone for people in the past.

Yeah - while I don't have any room to really negotiate funding yet (since it's two waitlists and one acceptance), on the off chance that I get in to a second program, suggestions would definitely be good, in case I have to approach this issue.

 

Any veterans lurking about?

[Gwendolyn]

All of  the people in my undergraduate department have suggested it's a bad idea to outright ask for more money. However, if your POIs have asked if there's anything they can do to make your decision easier, you might casually slip it in there that one of your primary concerns is funding and that you're torn. You really love your POI's program, yet you're concerned about livability. Rival University, however, is offering X amount which leads to your difficult decision.

 

The more the POI wants you, the more likely they'll fight for you to get additional funding, but there simply might not be any more funding available. Likewise, you might not be a top candidate for the program and they might not care whether or not you want more money, but there's no way to know what the situation is. 

 

According to all the professors I've asked about this, it's tacky to blatantly ask to "match" the funding of another school. 

Edited March 1, 2013 by Gwendolyn