Is there a way to get more stipend than what was first proposed by the department?

[dxvforte]

Hi, I got into one of the top schools of my choice (materials science and engineering), but the department offered me $25,000 per year stipend. (The tuition will be covered by my research adviser once I get a hold of one.)

 

I'm an international applicant, but I heard from someone that domestic students get more than internationals because they somehow bargain with the department. 

This may sound greedy, but I don't think $25,000 can cover my expenses living around the school that I got accepted to.

 

Is there a way to ask for more stipend form the department?

Is there someone out there that succeeded in asking for more? Plz share your experience. (you can PM me)

 

Thank you.

Edited April 3, 2014 by dxvforte

[hj2012]

I think the key to bargaining is to be as specific as possible, rather than a generic, "Give me more money." You can email and ask about summer teaching/research opportunities, collaboration opportunities with professors, etc. Also, you can't really bargain if you don't have anything to bargain with. Do you have any other offers that would give you more money? If so, you could email and explain that, although School A is your top choice, the only thing keeping you from immediately accepting was a more generous financial offer from School B. Ask if there were other opportunities available at School A in order to increase the stipend.

 

Anecdote: During an informal Skype chat with a DGS, he asked what other offers I had. I told him, and he emailed me afterward and offered me about $3,000 more a year.

 

I've heard of others raising their stipends in similar ways: by approaching departments with their other offers, and asking if they'd be able to match it. Not sure how successful you'd be without that bargaining chip in hand, though.

[iphi]

Hi, I got into one of the top schools of my choice (materials science and engineering), but the department offered me $25,000 per year stipend. (The tuition will be covered by my research adviser once I get a hold of one.)

 

I'm an international applicant, but I heard from someone that domestic students get more than internationals because they somehow bargain with the department. 

This may sound greedy, but I don't think $25,000 can cover my expenses living around the school that I got accepted to.

 

Is there a way to ask for more stipend form the department?

Is there someone out there that succeeded in asking for more? Plz share your experience. (you can PM me)

 

Thank you.

 

Unless you're moving to NYC or LA, I think $25,000 should be sufficient most places in the U.S. and Canada. Have you used a cost of living calculator? Typically, grad students really don't make that much and $25k is pretty generous. I know students at Berkeley (225% cost of living) who make only $19 or $20k.

 

That being said, even if the department doesn't offer you more than that now, there are always external grants that can help you out. NSF is a big one for most hard/social science disciplines. It's extremely competitive of course, but possible.

[TakeruK]

I think the key to bargaining is to be as specific as possible, rather than a generic, "Give me more money." You can email and ask about summer teaching/research opportunities, collaboration opportunities with professors, etc. Also, you can't really bargain if you don't have anything to bargain with. Do you have any other offers that would give you more money? If so, you could email and explain that, although School A is your top choice, the only thing keeping you from immediately accepting was a more generous financial offer from School B. Ask if there were other opportunities available at School A in order to increase the stipend.

 

Anecdote: During an informal Skype chat with a DGS, he asked what other offers I had. I told him, and he emailed me afterward and offered me about $3,000 more a year.

 

I've heard of others raising their stipends in similar ways: by approaching departments with their other offers, and asking if they'd be able to match it. Not sure how successful you'd be without that bargaining chip in hand, though.

 

I strongly second this advice, especially the bolded part (that I added). In addition, if you have external fellowships, it can help!

 

Not every school will let you bargain, for example, my current program said that they pay everyone exactly the same amount, no matter what your status is or how much external fellowships you have (unless you have one that covers all tuition and stipend, which would be over $70k/year here, so that is extremely rare).

 

Unless you're moving to NYC or LA, I think $25,000 should be sufficient most places in the U.S. and Canada. Have you used a cost of living calculator? Typically, grad students really don't make that much and $25k is pretty generous. I know students at Berkeley (225% cost of living) who make only $19 or $20k.

 

That being said, even if the department doesn't offer you more than that now, there are always external grants that can help you out. NSF is a big one for most hard/social science disciplines. It's extremely competitive of course, but possible.

I think different people have different standards of living and that's fine. I am not sure $25k/year would be sufficient in a place like Toronto or Vancouver (or similarly, San Francisco or Seattle in the US), for me. I would estimate that if I live the way I want to in a place like Vancouver or Seattle, my total cost of living will be around $24k to $26k per year for just me. Since you pay taxes on this in the US, it means that you will either just break even or even dig into savings a little. I agree with the OP that $25k/year isn't very much at all, and I would want to be able to save something like $3k to $5k/year while in grad school. In my opinion, $25k/year really means losing out on up to $15k-$20k/year on opportunity cost if you did something that is not grad school.

 

So, to dxvforte, I don't think it's greedy to ask for more than $25k/year. But like the above people said, it's tricky to do so, and I think you should just try--the worse that could happen is that they say no. For science/engineering fields, I would say that $25k/year is on the low end, unless you are in a very low cost of living area. However, my experience, at least in Canada, is that schools in very low cost of living areas tend to also be in undesirable parts of the country to live in, so the stipends are much higher at these places to entice students to attend! 

 

I agree that external grants are great, but there are pretty much non-existent for international students! NSF does not fund non-Americans, for example. 

[GeoDUDE!]

I got my school to guarantee me the first summer funding (the original offer was 9 months / 5 years). That will give me enough time to write a grant/ get an external fellowship for the 2nd summer and on. I suggest something like that.

[Vene]

Typically, grad students really don't make that much and $25k is pretty generous.

Of the programs I applied to, $25,000 was the norm. Those in a very high cost of living area (such as NYC or Boston) offered more, those in a very low cost of living area (Iowa) offered less. Seeing as how the program in question is engineering, I don't think $25,000 is anything spectacular, it's certainly sufficient, but not extraordinary.

[iphi]

I think different people have different standards of living and that's fine. I am not sure $25k/year would be sufficient in a place like Toronto or Vancouver (or similarly, San Francisco or Seattle in the US), for me. I would estimate that if I live the way I want to in a place like Vancouver or Seattle, my total cost of living will be around $24k to $26k per year for just me. Since you pay taxes on this in the US, it means that you will either just break even or even dig into savings a little. I agree with the OP that $25k/year isn't very much at all, and I would want to be able to save something like $3k to $5k/year while in grad school. In my opinion, $25k/year really means losing out on up to $15k-$20k/year on opportunity cost if you did something that is not grad school.

 

Fascinating. I have lived in Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco on far less than $25k! You have to be willing to make sacrifices (not live right downtown, etc.). Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective. Anyway, I wasn't saying OP shouldn't ask for more money, just saying that with the right scrimps and saves it can be possible to live on less.

Edited April 4, 2014 by iphi

[TakeruK]

Fascinating. I have lived in Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco on far less than $25k! You have to be willing to make sacrifices (not live right downtown, etc.). Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective. Anyway, I wasn't saying OP shouldn't ask for more money, just saying that with the right scrimps and saves it can be possible to live on less.

 

I agree it's a matter of perspective! I guess what I meant to say was that personally, I would not choose to go to a PhD program if I had to greatly reduce my standard of living from when I was at my MSc program. To me, this just means I can afford to have my own place (well, share with my spouse), a car, get actual food instead of ramen (although I love ramen as a treat) and afford to get a coffee or buy my lunch etc. if I feel like it once in awhile, without worrying about finances. Also, I would want to actually save up money towards a down payment on a home or something, not just surviving. I've found that I can generally live comfortably when my housing costs is about 1/4 of my income, so in e.g. Vancouver, 1 bedroom places go for $1000-$1200 ish per month, which means I would want to have a combined household income of $48k to $58k/year, or if in a two-income home, we each need to make $24k to $29k/year. And, there are extra costs when you are doing a PhD program--have to save up for emergency flights home for family etc.

 

It does work out that in the sciences (like the OP's program), the standard range of stipends is about $25k to $30k per year, so as Vene said, this offer is not terrible, but it is on the lower end for this field.

It's just my personal opinion that a PhD program is not worth the investment if I am not able to save money towards life goals (e.g. buying a home one day). 5 years is a decent chunk of my working life and if I don't end up with a job after my PhD, I don't want to be worse off (at the same financial state) as I was 5 years ago!

 

Just to clarify, I didn't intend to say that you were implying the OP shouldn't ask for more (I was replying to the OP's feelings of guilt for asking for more and I was trying to say they don't need to feel this way!). I also am not trying to attack your opinion, and I am aware that my standard of living is far above the "minimum". But I strongly feel that grad students should not be content with "minimum livable income" and that the idea of an academic being someone dedicated to their scholarly work and does not need creature comforts that a good income provides is outdated and harmful. In my opinion, the practice of paying graduate students as little as possible and expecting them to be okay with it because they love the scholarly life will favour those who are able to afford the financial risk of 5+ years working for almost no pay. 

 

So again, I want to say that I am not intending to "look down" on the poor (but if I am doing this, please let me know how I can adjust my viewpoint to be more open-minded). I just wanted to point out my perspective and emphasize that graduate students tend to be underpaid for the quality of work they can achieve (and especially compared to the options they have outside of grad school).

Edited April 4, 2014 by TakeruK