Situation in Chicago (Northwestern): Urgent Advice

[liszt85]

Hi all,

My best research fit is at the Northwestern (see my signature) Linguistics Dept. However, their funding is a fixed amount of $20.5K per year (5 yrs guaranteed, years 1 and 5fellowship and years 2,3 and 4 TA/RA). As some of you may know (from the argument I had with rising star about a related issue), my wife would accompany me on a F2 visa (no work permit). Now the only consideration left for me is if I can make this work somehow. We are prepared to live as frugally as possible!

A 1BR apartment costs around $900 (cheap ones) in Chicago. Evanston, which is closer to NU, is more expensive. Another major expense is the health insurance that I'd have to pay for my spouse (mine is a 100% subsidized one) which should come to around $1000-1500 a year (at the very least). So I'll be looking at around $1400 a month after taxes and this amount that I'd pay towards her insurance. I have no idea about how to make this work in Chicago. What advice do you have for me? The department has STRICTLY forbidden any extra employment. Under the table tutoring could be done by my spouse (who has a masters degree in Physics) but I don't think we should break the law! The other option I see is for her to apply to nearby, less selective universities (since she has had 0 research experience and her degree is from a relatively unknown university in India) for some program of study that will give her a F1 student status which will then allow her 20 hrs per week of work permit.

THoughts welcome! Am panicking a bit.. if I'm not convinced I can make this work, I'll have to settle for the lesser research fit, OSU (PhD Psychology).

[fuzzylogician]

It's a real dilemma you've got here. One thing you could maybe do to save costs is live with roommates instead of alone in a 1BR--you could probably save some money that way. The idea of your wife taking courses on her own and obtaining an F1 visa seems like the best solution. Do you know if it might be enough to enroll in part-time study to receive an F1 visa? If so, it might be even easier and take less time to obtain the visa than applying to grad school (which I assume will mean that at least during the first year she will be on an F2.) Does NU not allow you to work at all in the summers? I thought internationals were allowed to work up to 40 hours a week during vacations and 20 hours a week during the year. That's a little strange.

[plisar]

Just so you know...the department isn't forcing you not take partime employment, the visa is. Over the summer you can work 40 hours if you can find a position...

[liszt85]

Just so you know...the department isn't forcing you not take partime employment, the visa is. Over the summer you can work 40 hours if you can find a position...

Well, the department is. They've strictly forbidden me from taking up extra employment. Also, my visa only lets me work 20hrs per week. I'll be involved in research duties over the summer (15 hrs a week) and the department again has told me that there are strict rules regarding extra employment and that it is not encouraged.

The real kicker is the insurance I'd have to pay for my spouse. It comes to around $4750 per year.

OSU has a health insurance for couples for $209 per quarter. So its almost impossible for me to go to Northwestern due to financial reasons. So its looks like my choice is going to be OSU.

[rising_star]

You probably don't want to hear this, but would you consider trying to get your life international insurance based in your home country for your wife? I'm not sure if it's a possibility but I know that I can buy insurance in the US to use abroad. Because I'm thinking that could be cheaper... Alternately, would you consider possibly forgoing insurance on your wife? Assuming she has no chronic conditions and doesn't get pregnant, it's unlikely she will have $4500 in medical expenses in one year. And, if something catastrophic did happen, you could go to an emergency room and get the bill reduced because of your income. Just a thought.

[liszt85]

You probably don't want to hear this, but would you consider trying to get your life international insurance based in your home country for your wife? I'm not sure if it's a possibility but I know that I can buy insurance in the US to use abroad. Because I'm thinking that could be cheaper... Alternately, would you consider possibly forgoing insurance on your wife? Assuming she has no chronic conditions and doesn't get pregnant, it's unlikely she will have $4500 in medical expenses in one year. And, if something catastrophic did happen, you could go to an emergency room and get the bill reduced because of your income. Just a thought.

Thanks rising star. I have however decided that the above situation is quite impossible. We can't go on for 4-5 years without an insurance for her. I had a friend in NJ who caught the flu and had to be hospitalized for a week. His bills came to $30,000 (I have no idea how and why.. the american health care system perplexes me) and he fortunately had a good insurance. I think I'm going to OSU.

We've had arguments here about having to opt for our best research fit but it just has to be this way for me. OSU is not bad at all.. just a tad less interdisciplinary than NU and frankly NU would have been the best for my interests. I'm happy attending OSU and am glad that I've finally been able to come to a decision.

There was somebody by the name of "dutchie" here, probably from AMsterdam who was on the waiting list at NU. If you see this post, this means that I'm going to decline the NU offer in all probability, so hope an offer comes your way soon.

[sheherazade]

I'm a second year in a grad program in Chicago. Our stipend is smaller (19k for the academic year) than the one you mentioned. It's a tad hard to get by if you splurge on big purchases, but if you're responsible and frugal, then it works. This comes to about 1600 after taxes per month. If you live in Rogers Park in North Chicago, you could take the train (Red Line) to Evanston quite easily, and rent is very cheap in Rogers Park, you could get a studio or small 1-bd for ~7 hundred. If you want to, I think you could make it work there, even with the insurance expense.

[liszt85]

$20.5K - $4.5K = $16K

$16K/12 = $1333

After taxes (14%?) = $1146 per month.

I will have a maximum of $10,000 with me from loans. Spread out over a 5 year period, this doesn't look too good. This will add $166 each month. So the maximum amount available to me per month would be around $1300. $700 for rent. $200 for utilities, etc. $300-350 for groceries. $100 maybe for books, supplies, for academic purposes. Extremely tight. Thanks for your input anyway..

[Cosette]

Your wife enrolling at another university does seem like the best option, if that's possible; that way, she would likely have her own student insurance and be able to work on the side. Also have you contacted anyone at Northwestern about your situation? Certainly they have dealt with similar issues before and can give you some advice. Does Northwestern have any graduate student housing available? Some universities have reasonably priced graduate student apartments, so that might be another option to look into.

[waitingtoexhale]

I feel for your predicament. As much as Northwestern is a better fit for your research interests, it may just end up being more advantageous for you to go to one of your other school options. Perhaps it could work for you in Chicago, but it already sounds like a stressful situation before even accounting for your academic work. And the stress may boil over and adversely affect your doctoral study, which isn't a good situation for any of us. Best of luck with your decision.

[liszt85]

Your wife enrolling at another university does seem like the best option, if that's possible; that way, she would likely have her own student insurance and be able to work on the side. Also have you contacted anyone at Northwestern about your situation? Certainly they have dealt with similar issues before and can give you some advice. Does Northwestern have any graduate student housing available? Some universities have reasonably priced graduate student apartments, so that might be another option to look into.

The Professors there strongly advised me not to attend if I had only this stipend money to support my wife. They say there is no doubt that it is insufficient to support a dependent however frugal a life we lead and I've taken their advice.

Northwestern's grad housing is very expensive. A 1BR costs ~$1300. Its almost equal to the amount I'll get for the entire month!

[liszt85]

I feel for your predicament. As much as Northwestern is a better fit for your research interests, it may just end up being more advantageous for you to go to one of your other school options. Perhaps it could work for you in Chicago, but it already sounds like a stressful situation before even accounting for your academic work. And the stress may boil over and adversely affect your doctoral study, which isn't a good situation for any of us. Best of luck with your decision.

You got that absolutely right and I thought the same too. So I opted for OSU because Columbus is a very cost effective place. Also my adviser (who is fixed because he is supporting my summers for all years) is very young and I'm probably among his first crop of students. He is very resourceful and friendly. He's even told me that my wife would be welcome to come spend time in the lab as its a very family friendly place. His daughter and wife keep visiting. He said we'd try to convince my wife that she should be applying to grad school too! (which is something that's on our minds too) He also told me that we should play cricket sometime (I'm an Indian and Indians love cricket). My work will be on memory, attention and language performance (all using concepts of physics and I'm a physics major. This work is highly mathematical too) and he's allowed me to work on projects outside his lab where I might get to work on music cognition projects (which I'm most interested in). Though music cognition is my primary interest, I've got advice that there aren't many jobs in that field and so the best thing would be to write a dissertation in one of the traditional areas of psychology while gaining experience in music cognition through these side projects. It looks like a good plan to me.

So maybe its a good thing that the financial aspect took the choice out of my hands, it might all be for the best

[fuzzylogician]

Congratulations on making the decision, liszt85!

It sounds like you've picked the best option and I hope it works out for you. You seem very down-to-earth so I'm sure it will

[liszt85]

Congratulations on making the decision, liszt85!

It sounds like you've picked the best option and I hope it works out for you. You seem very down-to-earth so I'm sure it will

Thank you so much fuzzylogician I'm all the more excited because I'll get to learn everything from the beginning, its almost like beginning a new undergraduate program but without all the unnecessary boring enforced core courses (only a few core statistics and methods courses..most others can be tailored to our interests, that's the best thing about grad school). I am however a little apprehensive about doing courses along with people who have had excellent undergraduate backgrounds in the subject! I hope I don't lag behind :|