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Posted

This may interest some of the folks who just received offers from Toronto:

 

http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/02/27/u-of-t-teaching-assistants-strike-late-night-deal.html

 

TAs and instructors on strike (despite what the URL suggests) as of last night due to near-poverty level stipends (15k when the official low-income line in Canada is 23k for single workers in large cities).

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

This is such a good idea! Perhaps someone can inform us about Berkeley's and Stanford's usual stipends for Comp. Lit students. Until now, I have managed to get this information from other universities (E.g. Chicago, UCLA, Cornell, CUNY...), but these two tend to be extremely secretive on this matter.

 

I found out some info about Stanford's package at interview, but I don't have the full details! Please feel free to complete/correct my entry.

Posted

Guys I wonder if it's normal for some schools to offer funding way later than having offered an admission? I was told to wait for funding info, but it has been almost a month. Emailed DGS but she couldn't make any promises of funding at this point. So...should I assume there might be no funding at all? Anyone have experience with waiting for funding? 

Posted

Guys I wonder if it's normal for some schools to offer funding way later than having offered an admission? I was told to wait for funding info, but it has been almost a month. Emailed DGS but she couldn't make any promises of funding at this point. So...should I assume there might be no funding at all? Anyone have experience with waiting for funding? 

 

I know of at least one program that hasn't made funding offers yet. In talking to current grad students and reviewing old posts on GC, this particular department doesn't traditionally offer funding until the first week of April for the vast majority of their students. This is the only program I know for sure that does it this way, and I can't say it's an althogether common practice from what I've seen with other schools.

Posted

Not sure where to post this but a brutal and depressing read from VICE:

 

Striking Grad Students on What It's Like to Live on $15,000 a Year

 

Luckily, York U has been successful in striking for their demands. Toronto on the other hand... still going.

 

Another one, from the perspective of two grad students.

 

University of Toronto: Boundless Exploitation–“Business as Usual” IS the Problem

Posted (edited)

I know of at least one program that hasn't made funding offers yet. In talking to current grad students and reviewing old posts on GC, this particular department doesn't traditionally offer funding until the first week of April for the vast majority of their students. This is the only program I know for sure that does it this way, and I can't say it's an althogether common practice from what I've seen with other schools.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

I'm an international applicant and don't know how funding really works in American institutions. What puzzled me is, looking from the results board, the two schools that told me to wait actually have offered funding to other students. Someone admitted earlier than me into school A received funding, and someone admitted later than me into school B also did. I can only assume funding opportunities come rolling out in some programs. They may even have a ranked list for that. 

Edited by nahis
Posted

Not sure where to post this but a brutal and depressing read from VICE:

 

Striking Grad Students on What It's Like to Live on $15,000 a Year

 

Luckily, York U has been successful in striking for their demands. Toronto on the other hand... still going.

 

Another one, from the perspective of two grad students.

 

University of Toronto: Boundless Exploitation–“Business as Usual” IS the Problem

 

Yeah, the situation in Toronto is atrocious. Even if they achieve a 17.5K minimum funding package - which seems likely - that will hardly make a dent, especially for the students in ABD with (ridiculously!) full fees to pay.

 

I reckon I can survive there financially because of a bit of additional scholarship money and support from my family (plus, more than likely, loans), but for moral reasons I almost want to turn it down. It's an abominable model for how grad schools should function.

Posted

Yeah, the situation in Toronto is atrocious. Even if they achieve a 17.5K minimum funding package - which seems likely - that will hardly make a dent, especially for the students in ABD with (ridiculously!) full fees to pay.

 

I reckon I can survive there financially because of a bit of additional scholarship money and support from my family (plus, more than likely, loans), but for moral reasons I almost want to turn it down. It's an abominable model for how grad schools should function.

 

Ugh, yeah, I feel for you. I didn't apply to Toronto for that very reason (plus their OE faculty's in such flux) but damn--that must be hard. Such an amazing program in academic terms!

Posted

Typically when someone is admitted earlier than other applicants with funding it's because they were nominated for a school-wide fellowship (thus funds aren't contingent on departmental budget). In the case if school B, my guess would be you're on some sort of funding wait list, but that is strictly speculation on my part. I'm sure an international applicant could speak more to funding issues, though, as it seems they can sometimes vary by program for international students.

Posted

Yeah, the situation in Toronto is atrocious. Even if they achieve a 17.5K minimum funding package - which seems likely - that will hardly make a dent, especially for the students in ABD with (ridiculously!) full fees to pay.

 

I reckon I can survive there financially because of a bit of additional scholarship money and support from my family (plus, more than likely, loans), but for moral reasons I almost want to turn it down. It's an abominable model for how grad schools should function.

 

It's certainly doable if you live with roommates! (source: Toronto native for a long time)

 

Ugh, yeah, I feel for you. I didn't apply to Toronto for that very reason (plus their OE faculty's in such flux) but damn--that must be hard. Such an amazing program in academic terms!

 

I don't think I should've applied either but mine was a last minute (re: day before deadline) hail mary just in case! I'd be able to live with family or something, worse case scenario.

Posted

Yeah, the situation in Toronto is atrocious. Even if they achieve a 17.5K minimum funding package - which seems likely - that will hardly make a dent, especially for the students in ABD with (ridiculously!) full fees to pay.

 

I reckon I can survive there financially because of a bit of additional scholarship money and support from my family (plus, more than likely, loans), but for moral reasons I almost want to turn it down. It's an abominable model for how grad schools should function.

It's very unfortunate.  But a couple things to check out/keep in mind:

 

re: the situation, protests, a petition, etc.

http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2015/03/we-need-your-signatures-babels-open.html

 

And dissertation grants from the medieval academy -- not a guarantee, obviously, but definitely generous and worth applying for should the necessity arise:

 

http://www.medievalacademy.org/?page=MAA_Grants

 

http://mediumaevum.modhist.ox.ac.uk/society_bursaries.shtml-- small grants for smaller research projects

 

Hopefully the situation gets better.  It'd be a shame to see one of the best universities in the western hemisphere (and possibly the best place for genuinely old school medieval studies) continue on this path, but congratulations on getting in and best of luck to you as you go forward.  

Posted

Thanks for the sympathy, encouragement and links! IQ84, could I possibly message you about the best places to look for roommates/apartments in Toronto? I'm sure you have some good insight!

Posted

I updated the USC entry for Fall 2015. So many of them are from Fall 2013... what's the deal?!

Posted

Not sure where to post this but a brutal and depressing read from VICE:

 

Striking Grad Students on What It's Like to Live on $15,000 a Year

 

Luckily, York U has been successful in striking for their demands. Toronto on the other hand... still going.

 

Another one, from the perspective of two grad students.

 

University of Toronto: Boundless Exploitation–“Business as Usual” IS the Problem

Did you all read the comments in that first one? So typical...

Posted

I updated the USC entry for Fall 2015. So many of them are from Fall 2013... what's the deal?!

Ha, Fall 2013 is when the doc was originally made. I'm glad y'all are still using it though! We made it cause we were annoyed by the lack of transparency about funding.

Posted

Did you all read the comments in that first one? So typical...

 

"You put in your sweat equity and profit down the road." I don't even.....

 

Ha, Fall 2013 is when the doc was originally made. I'm glad y'all are still using it though! We made it cause we were annoyed by the lack of transparency about funding.

 

Oh, I know. I mean why hasn't it been updated! Very few if any entries from the F14 cohort. It would be really interesting, instead of overwriting data to keep a running tally of how funding is changing from year to year.

Posted

 

Oh, I know. I mean why hasn't it been updated! Very few if any entries from the F14 cohort. It would be really interesting, instead of overwriting data to keep a running tally of how funding is changing from year to year.

 

Right after I wrote that, I realized that you were totally around the boards then. My bad! Congrats on your PhD success, btw.

Posted

I was speaking to a professor about my dilemma, and she said that to have a college fully fund a PhD with a stipend and medical is rare. But that doesn't seem to be the case on the spreadsheet. I thought most places offered some type of stipend? 

Posted

BLeondard: If it's full medical coverage that is rare. Typically it's a subsidy at best.

 

Is that really the case? I was under the same impression as BLeonard. 

Posted

It looks like it's a student medical plan/credit against the plan. My mistake. 

Posted

Is that really the case? I was under the same impression as BLeonard. 

 

This is juding by the programs where I applied; I could just be picking the only places that don't fund medical! (Many do subsidies of some kind.)

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