Urgent: Stony Brook PhD program Funding, Please help

[drahton]

Hello everyone,

I have been accepted to the CS PhD program at Stony Brook university this Fall. I received an offer of 17K TA and a 4K fellowship for the first year only. However I still don't get some points:

 

• When the offer says 17K$ per academic year, does that mean distributed over 12 months or 9 months? I'm interested in this because If it is over 12 months, then my monthly income is about 1400$,  which means I cannot attend the university at all (apartment alone is 1169$ ! )
• How the fellowship is usually awarded? direct payment at the beginning of the semester or distributed over months?

 

I tried emailing the department, financial agents, calling, but alas no answers, and late replies, sometimes they took 2 weeks to reply to a single question and currently they are not replying. There is a danger that I might cancel my plan to go there because of their late replies.

Anyone with similar experience or admitted to the same program I would be thankful if you can share your advice/experience.

[geographyrocks]

Every school is different so I can only tell you how they do it at my university. My stipend covers 10 months and I get paid in 10 monthly installments with my first payment at the end of August. Since my stipend counts as wages, it doesn't affect my financial aid, but they will be taking taxes out every month.

I believe fellowship are awarded at the beginning of the semester with the rest of financial aid, but I could be wrong.

As for the apartment, that sounds pretty expensive. Was that the cheapest you could find? Have you thought about roommates?

After taxes, you'll be getting about $1400/month.

Edited July 16, 2014 by geographyrocks

[drahton]

Thanks for the reply, If they take taxes out every month then I am really in a very bad situation.

As for the apartment, it is an on-campus housing and they said that it costs 1169$ / month does that mean there will be also additional taxes?, having a roommate will cost me about 100-200$ less but it is still expensive. The problem is that I was assigned to the more expensive apartment complex and it is hard now to switch to cheaper ones because they are already occupied.

[fuzzylogician]

If you're paid 17K annually then you are paid roughly $1400/month, before taxes. It doesn't matter if the payments are divided over 9 or 12 months, that's still the amount you have to spend per month. The apartment you have sounds very expensive, more than you can afford on your stipend. Now, if you'll have an extra 4K for the first year, that's a stipend of around $1750/month (before taxes!), which you should be able to make work. However, it'll be a very tight budget, and you should remember to take taxes into account. I assume that your health insurance is covered, but if not, this will put you back in the impossible range.

 

If you do take this offer, I think several things need to happen. First, get a roommate for this year. Saving $100-200 a month on rent will be very important for your budget for this year. If you can get cheaper housing for this year, that would be even better. Ask about it, just to make sure. For the following year, you will absolutely have to find a cheaper place to live. I'd suggest looking for off-campus options. Once you're there it'll be easier to search. If you look for a place with roommates and aren't too picky, my guess is that if you look hard enough you could find rooms for maybe even half of what you're paying now, or at least two thirds that amount. That will make a big difference in your budget, which is very tight.

 

As for your second question, this varies by school. Usually, stipends are paid as a direct deposit; fellowships are paid at the beginning of the month and salary might be paid at the end of the month or every two weeks. You need to ask your school how they do it. 

[DeleteMePlease]

Thanks for the reply, If they take taxes out every month then I am really in a very bad situation.

As for the apartment, it is an on-campus housing and they said that it costs 1169$ / month does that mean there will be also additional taxes?, having a roommate will cost me about 100-200$ less but it is still expensive. The problem is that I was assigned to the more expensive apartment complex and it is hard now to switch to cheaper ones because they are already occupied.

 

Usually people live off campus for that reason

[geographyrocks]

Thanks for the reply, If they take taxes out every month then I am really in a very bad situation.

As for the apartment, it is an on-campus housing and they said that it costs 1169$ / month does that mean there will be also additional taxes?, having a roommate will cost me about 100-200$ less but it is still expensive. The problem is that I was assigned to the more expensive apartment complex and it is hard now to switch to cheaper ones because they are already occupied.

Even if they don't take taxes out monthly, you will be responsible for paying them quarterly. No matter how taxes are done, you really can't afford that apartment. Does the rent include utilities?

Try to find a roommate situation or cheaper housing. You could always rake out additional loans, but it's always best to not go in debt.

[fuzzylogician]

Even if they don't take taxes out monthly, you will be responsible for paying them quarterly. No matter how taxes are done, you really can't afford that apartment. Does the rent include utilities?

Try to find a roommate situation or cheaper housing. You could always rake out additional loans, but it's always best to not go in debt.

 

I assume that the rent includes utilities and heating, since it's on-campus housing and quite expensive. If not, it's ridiculously overpriced. Yes, OP, if there is any way to get out of that contract and find an off-campus place (with roommates, of course!), it's almost guaranteed to be cheaper. I'm not sure how easy it would be for an international student to get loans but I think it's not straightforward and anyway it's best to avoid going into debt if you can help it.

[drahton]

Really that was helpful, thanks. I cant believe how the admission office didn't inform me about any of that, and worse, they are not replying to emails or phone calls!

Yes the apartment is with utilities. And yeah it seems i should search for a new apartment asap. I thought all the numbers are exact, I didnt know that taxes even exist now I should know the amount of the taxes I will be paying.

I thought that the amount they pay should be enough for on-campus housing + some money to survive, now I am discovering how naive my thinking was

I am thinking how about a shared room, there are some on craiglist with 600/700$ per month and they are close to university. Do you guys think this is a good idea?