PhD's Assitantship and stipend for life expense

[Sean X]

Hi everyone,

I heard that for an applicant admitted to a PhD program with full teaching assistantship or research assistantship, he/she will got all tuition covered and some life expense covered by some stipend. But does the "life expense covered by some stipend" differ from area to area? For example, will the stipend provided by school in NYC higher than mid-west area, given NYC has a higher life expense?

(Let me know if there's any confusion...)

Thank you in advance!

Sean

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Sean X

[rugox]

Hi yes. I have been admitted in multiple regions with funding and NYC or other major cities with high cost of living will offer you more money. What seems like more money isn't really what it is though. The amount of funding depends on the cost of living. You might receive 10k to attend a Mid-west school but the region will have much less cost of living so it should still cover those expenses relatively speaking. This is of course, unless you are receiving additional merit scholarships on top of the funding.

[Emily Roberts]

Often yes, sometimes no. Stipend amounts (and benefits) are determined based on the field, the solvency of the university and the department (and state, for public schools), the prestige of the program, the reason the funding is given (fellowship vs. assistantship), the competitiveness of the candidate, and yes, the local cost of living. If you get enough offers, you'll probably see a loose correlation between the stipend offered and the cost of living, but there may also be exceptions. I remember that my husband's lowest stipend offer came from the school in the highest cost of living city.

To get an idea of how much stipends can vary and also what you might expect to be offered in various fields or at various universities, check out the data in PhD Stipends http://www.phdstipends.com/ (a database I run). Please also enter your own offer letters into the database once you receive them!

[hopefulPhD2017]

On 1/26/2016 at 6:59 PM, GradStudentFinances said:

Often yes, sometimes no. Stipend amounts (and benefits) are determined based on the field, the solvency of the university and the department (and state, for public schools), the prestige of the program, the reason the funding is given (fellowship vs. assistantship), the competitiveness of the candidate, and yes, the local cost of living. If you get enough offers, you'll probably see a loose correlation between the stipend offered and the cost of living, but there may also be exceptions. I remember that my husband's lowest stipend offer came from the school in the highest cost of living city.

To get an idea of how much stipends can vary and also what you might expect to be offered in various fields or at various universities, check out the data in PhD Stipends http://www.phdstipends.com/ (a database I run). Please also enter your own offer letters into the database once you receive them!

This is great!

[cowgirlsdontcry]

Stipends vary greatly from university to university and even from department to department within the same university. I saw in a post, under admission results on here, that someone received a stipend of $25,000 from an economics program at the same university I am admitted to for an English Ph.D. That amount is significantly more than I will receive. However, I also received a waiver of tuition/fees and a stipend for insurance, which the economics student did not mention. You have to sit down and calculate how much it will cost you to live in a particular city, by looking at average costs for apartments/utilities, insurance, car payments, etc. I have outside income so I am able to afford an apartment and am not confined to living with a roommate in an apartment this fall. Thank goodness!