Where does all the money go?

[maddaddam]

Hi, for anyone who has recieved research funding for their's masters or phd, I was just wondering if you actually used all that money for research? If not, how much was left over that wasn't needed for your project(s)?

[Naon]

I was fully funded for my Phd, I used it to pay my mortgage each month, to pay off school loans, and to eat.    I guess I bought books with it for my research, and I went to a couple of conferences...but yeah, the vast majority went to living expenses, since I couldn't really work full time. However, my PhD was in Educational Policy, so it was theory based, there really weren't a lot of research expenses.

[Usmivka]

Hi, for anyone who has recieved research funding for their's masters or phd, I was just wondering if you actually used all that money for research? If not, how much was left over that wasn't needed for your project(s)?

I'm unclear whether you are asking:

1) what the money goes towards in a funded degree?

or 2) how money specifically awarded to you as a research grant is spent?

 

In the first case, your research is generally not funded, just your tuition, stipend, and health insurance. The actual costs of the research are paid out of a research grant, most likely to your advisor or department. In the second case, where the research grant is to you rather than your advisor, you are legally obligated to spend all allocated funds on the research project it was dispersed for (or something related, sometimes a side project arises)--this money can't go towards personal expenses, which would be embezzlement. Unused funds have to be returned to the funding agency, but they hate that for paperwork and budget reasons, so in reality everything must be spent, on research, and there is nothing "left over."

[Naon]

Good point, mine was a grad fellowship, it was stipulation free. 

[TakeruK]

What Usmivka said.

 

I think it's pretty rare for a grad student to be awarded a research grant upon admission to a graduate program though. Usually, our research is paid for by our supervisor's grants (depending on the field though). I would never spend my own personal funds (e.g. TA income, grad stipend, portion of fellowships that pay my salary) on any research related costs, but I know people in other fields have to spend their own money to travel to field sites etc.

 

Some grad fellowships do come with research grant funding, which can only be used for research purposes and generally has a lot of rules about what you can and can't buy with it. Also, sometimes once you start a grad program, you might be able to apply for research grants as a PI, but there aren't very many grants that are meant for grad students -- usually the PI has to be a faculty member.

 

Finally, these grants usually require a budget, so having a lot of "left over" means you budgeted incorrectly in the proposal and is generally a bad thing! Sometimes a lab group might have a small amount of money leftover and they might have to make sure they spend it all before the time limit on the grant is up! So this might mean an extra conference that a student can attend, or upgrade some equipment, or refill some supplies etc.