Whats the most funding any PhD student has received?

[skyentist]

I am just curious about whats the limit to funding (including outside grants)? Could any PhD student make over 100k a year from only fellowships and RA's/TA's and the like?

[med latte]

Most fellowships I've seen are $15-28k a year, and RA/TA not much better....but I'm sure it depends on the field and school. Will be curious what others say.

[DigDeep(inactive)]

NYU Anth = 36,900/yr stipend. But, it's NYC so it probably is equivalent to a sub-par stipend. 

[skyentist]

I got $24k a year in the middle of nowhere illinois, I think thats equivalent $100k in NYC. Ill be leaving like a balla... in my farm house.

[kechemukwa]

I got $24k a year in the middle of nowhere illinois, I think thats equivalent $100k in NYC. Ill be leaving like a balla... in my farm house.

 

I feel that. IU offered me 27k per year. There's no way I need that much to live in Bloomington...

[TakeruK]

In Canada, there is an external fellowship granted by our equivalent of the NSF (the Vanier) that is $50,000 / year for 3 years. International students are eligible and each school generally has a quota of 1 awardee in each of the three fields that our "Tri-Council" governs: Natural Sciences/Engineering, Social Sciences/Humantiies, and Health Research. In Canada, stipends are awarded first and then we have to pay tuition out of that, which is about $5000 to $7000 per year ($2000 if you're in Quebec). However, some places will still let you TA a little bit so the net income will probably still be around $45000-$50000/year.

 

That's the highest stipend I've ever heard of! I know a good number of Canadian grad students in the sciences on external funding (equivalent to NSF GRFP) that have take home incomes around $33k-$35k per year.

 

I also think Harvard pays its astronomy graduate students pretty well (something above $30k with tuition waivers). They also award a one-time fellowship of $18k on top of the regular stipend for some top candidates.

[EngineerGrad]

I just got a 26.5k a year offer... The school is in a small city, so it seems very generous! I'm really happy :-)

[zipykido]

Assistant professors don't even make 100k a year  . I'm making 25k a year in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire which isn't that bad since I'm thrifty by nature. NSF GRFP fellows get 32k stipend a year but that seems to be the upper limit. Some fellowships do not allow for additional assistantships though. The only way you'd be making $100k as a grad student is to be independently wealthy and have a pretty large portfolio going. 

[AxonAxoff]

Yale BBS's annual stipend is $33k, which is already pretty generous given that New Haven isn't an expensive city. But if you win an external fellowship, like the NSF, you're given a $4k stipend supplement for a grand total of $37k.

Edited March 14, 2014 by AxonAxoff

[SciencePerson101]

I was comparing harvard mco and yale bbs and definitely yale gives most money if you look at cost of living.

Edited March 14, 2014 by SciencePerson101

[ShortLong]

I got a $42,000 stipend from an external fellowship, with my tuition paid separately. I was also offered a second fellowship with a $36,000 stipend and a lot of other fringe benefits. I was allowed to take both if I didn't take stipend and tuition from both. I do live in Atlanta, so the cost of living is a bit higher.

 

A lot of fellowships have clauses that you can't accept money from other places, especially from two different government sponsored fellowships.

[PhDerp]

I'm under the impression that most fellowships restrict you from taking on others, so you can't just stack them.

 

EDIT: Whoops, someone already said that. haha XD

Edited March 14, 2014 by PhDerp

[TakeruK]

I'm under the impression that most fellowships restrict you from taking on others, so you can't just stack them.

 

EDIT: Whoops, someone already said that. haha XD

 

You can stack some, depending on how each is worded. The most I have ever received in one year was the first year of my Masters in Canada [same as a first year PhD student in the US]--I received something like $43k of support. $17.5k was from a national fellowship in Canada which did have a restriction that I cannot accept any other nationally funded award and any that I cannot do more than 400 hours of paid work per year because the intent of the fellowship is pay for my time as a researcher. I received a one-time $5k signing bonus from the school for bringing in nationally awarded money because in 2010, people with the national fellowship could take their award anywhere in Canada. I received a one-time $6.2k tuition award (tuition actually costs $7.2k though) because the Graduate School awards this to the top 1/3 of incoming grad students. I also worked a half-TAship (108 hours total, compatible with the national fellowship limit), which was worth another $5k. Finally, I received about $11k in internal fellowships from the school, which was just a fancy name for money coming from a common departmental pool. These internal fellowships have no service/work requirement, so they were compatible with the national fellowship too!

[bathingintheneon]

I know that UC San Diego will give you up to $43,000. To do this, you need to get an outside fellowship/grant (like the $32,000 NSF GRFP), and UCSD will give you the extra $11,000 to get you to their cap amount of $43,000. Their stipend is usually around $23,000, so they will give you up that that much money.

[TakeruK]

Cornell Astro & Space Sciences does something similar to UCSD described above, I think. Their cap is $37k though and you can achieve this through a fellowship from their school alone.