Weighing Our Options

[booksareneat]

I'm currently putting together my data to weigh my options for schools and thought I would remind people of this article: "Graduate Students' Pay and Benefits Vary Widely, Survey Shows" from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It isn't exhaustive, but it lets you look at different program's funding INCLUDING the big issue of health care. A lot of us take it for granted that a program has health care, but make sure you ask questions about it. There is a database along with that article that has 111 English programs. Enjoy.

[wrappedupinbooks]

I'm currently putting together my data to weigh my options for schools and thought I would remind people of this article: "Graduate Students' Pay and Benefits Vary Widely, Survey Shows" from the Chronicle of Higher Education. It isn't exhaustive, but it lets you look at different program's funding INCLUDING the big issue of health care. A lot of us take it for granted that a program has health care, but make sure you ask questions about it. There is a database along with that article that has 111 English programs. Enjoy.

Hi, thanks for this. Is there a way to read it without paying money-- that you know of?

[booksareneat]

Hmmm. I have access via my school's library. But let's try cutting and pasting! (I can look up a particular school and post their info from the database that you can search).

When it comes to the financial packages that graduate students receive to pursue their degrees, the devil is in the details.

A Chronicle survey, conducted this summer and fall, of the pay and benefits of teaching and research assistants at more than 100 research institutions reveals a dizzying array of variables that students must compare.

Some institutions cover 100 percent of graduate students' tuition, while others waive only a portion. It is possible to get health insurance paid in full

[Matt_Davis]

I wish departments made their attrition rates pubic. Grad school paranoia is setting in.

[moop2009]

This link might be helpful as well: http://chronicle.com/stats/stipends/2008/93.htm

I didn't seem to have to log in...

[Jcar]

"A large part of my decision was based on how I would be able to afford to live," says Verity Mathis, a Ph.D. student in evolutionary biology at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. Her stipend for 12 months as a teaching assistant is a little more than $20,000. Ms. Mathis, 30, pays $500 a month in rent for a two-bedroom house. Louisiana State pays the bulk of her $500 annual health-insurance premium. Student fees, about $800 or so each semester, are among the expenses that she must cover. "I stretch my money out with student loans," Ms. Mathis says."

She has a 500 dollar a month 2 bedroom house (that's insanely cheap!) and yet she's still not able to live in Baton Rouge on 20,000 a year?

Is she also financing a crack habit or something?

[booksareneat]

Is she also financing a crack habit or something?

We all have to survive grad school somehow.

[rinneron]

I survived on about $15,600 my first year and then $18,000 my second year in NYC while doing my MA (not including tuition, paid for separately). She must be funding at least a crack habit, if not supplemented by heroin. (Apologies if Ms. Mathis ever finds this thread!)

[a cup of coffee]

Unfortunately all a graduate stipend usually provides for is being able to survive. If a one bedroom apartment is 1000+, you should probably get a roommate. I agree that it sucks that we aren't paid anything close to a living wage, but let's not have any illusions about what to expect. I'm just saying that a $20,000 stipend in Baton Rouge would be a reason to party, in my opinion. And I say that while disappointed in no funding my first year ...

[kfed2020]

rinneron said:

I survived on about $15,600 my first year and then $18,000 my second year in NYC while doing my MA (not including tuition, paid for separately). She must be funding at least a crack habit, if not supplemented by heroin. (Apologies if Ms. Mathis ever finds this thread!)

Lol, you crazies -- crack is whack. And it's also inexpensive, so it'd be very easy for her to nurse a fledgling crack addiction on even 10,000/yr; just ask your neighborhood crackhead.

The problem is that her stipend keeps her from high-end drugs. Sad, huh?