'Normal' Range of Funding for Soc PhDs?

[gingin6789]

Super helpful, @Epsius. Thank you! Ah I wish I could go a week early, but I can't be away from my current campus for that long. Either way, I'll see you at the visitation day!! :-)

[flatnwhite]

hey y'all, how many hours of teaching is normal for a TA appointment? Irvine says 220 hours/quarter. Not sure if that is calculated by number of undergrads enrolled in the class to be TAed...? Also UC Davis folk: do I understand correctly that your financial support letters guarantee funding for 5 years, but that the specifc sources of the funding remain unnamed for years 2-5 and will vary by phd student?

anybody offered more than 5 years?

Edited February 12, 2016 by flatnwhite

[flatnwhite]

(i ask about 5+ years because of this: http://news.yale.edu/2015/01/29/graduate-school-provide-funding-students-their-sixth-year)

[puton]

I have received funding offers from 4-5 public (state) schools this year, and all of them provided stipend between the $15-$18k for 9 month range on some kind of TA, RA work. They are all located in areas that have low-reasonable COL. Is this the general standard for state schools?

I have one offer from private school and I know couple of people who have offers from top-privates (including ivys) and their general range was $25k-$30 and they were also mostly guaranteed of 3-4 summer support. Also, they could live on fellowship for couple of years doing no assistance work.  Even considering top privates are located in more expensive areas, there does seem to be quite a bit of discrepancy in financial funding offers among publics and privates, am I right?

 

[flatnwhite]

5 minutes ago, puton said:

there does seem to be quite a bit of discrepancy in financial funding offers among publics and privates, am I right?

take a look at this very useful chart from yale: http://gsas.yale.edu/sites/default/files/page-files/comparison1.pdf 
i get the sense the true difference lies in whether the final stipend includes summer funding (most public colleges cover only the academic year) and how much teaching you are obliged to do (most private colleges are very lax). so, for example, when i compare my UC package with that of yale's or any other elite uni's (by way of that chart above), i see that i don't get summers for free and i actually gotta do a fair bit more teaching. would summers be included, the figures would be comparable, though the teaching still far more at UC.

[ts1493]

I've received $26K from a private university (that includes a special fellowship on top of the funding) and am told that the TA responsibility for years 1-2 are a maximum of 20 hours.  I've spoken to some other students and they say that it often doesn't occupy that much time and is pretty manageable.  For years 3-5 there is a TF responsibility but I'm not sure how many hours that amounts to.  Funding is guaranteed for 5 years, and then there is a strong possibility of some dissertation funding from then on, plus some research grants and summer funding.  It's really helpful to find out if there are internal grants from the university research institutes as that can be a bit easier to secure.  

[puton]

28 minutes ago, ts1493 said:

I've received $26K from a private university (that includes a special fellowship on top of the funding) and am told that the TA responsibility for years 1-2 are a maximum of 20 hours.  I've spoken to some other students and they say that it often doesn't occupy that much time and is pretty manageable.  For years 3-5 there is a TF responsibility but I'm not sure how many hours that amounts to.  Funding is guaranteed for 5 years, and then there is a strong possibility of some dissertation funding from then on, plus some research grants and summer funding.  It's really helpful to find out if there are internal grants from the university research institutes as that can be a bit easier to secure.  

Wow! generous funding!

[Katastrophe]

4 hours ago, puton said:

I have received funding offers from 4-5 public (state) schools this year, and all of them provided stipend between the $15-$18k for 9 month range on some kind of TA, RA work. They are all located in areas that have low-reasonable COL. Is this the general standard for state schools?

I have one offer from private school and I know couple of people who have offers from top-privates (including ivys) and their general range was $25k-$30 and they were also mostly guaranteed of 3-4 summer support. Also, they could live on fellowship for couple of years doing no assistance work.  Even considering top privates are located in more expensive areas, there does seem to be quite a bit of discrepancy in financial funding offers among publics and privates, am I right?

 

Maybe my experience is unusual, but I have actually had a majority of offers that are nearly identical across public and private school(s), even with waiving teaching and summer support factored in. 

 

Sure there might be one or two that are bit lower, but mine all seem to be about ~1000 apart.

[puton]

28 minutes ago, Katastrophe said:

Maybe my experience is unusual, but I have actually had a majority of offers that are nearly identical across public and private school(s), even with waiving teaching and summer support factored in. 

 

Sure there might be one or two that are bit lower, but mine all seem to be about ~1000 apart.

I have actually been accepted to three of the public schools that you have also been accepted.

Perhaps you have been offered a better funding package than I have, thus a better candidate!

[Katastrophe]

Never mind all that, just getting funded offers is amazing!

[kelris]

17 minutes ago, Katastrophe said:

Never mind all that, just getting funded offers is amazing!

true that katastrohpe, 1K here, 2K there...the differences will work out. if you work hard and choose the program that is best for your research, funding will fall into place. no matter what, you're gonna be poor. get on food stamps asap and you'll make it.

[aresh1]

7 hours ago, flatnwhite said:

hey y'all, how many hours of teaching is normal for a TA appointment? Irvine says 220 hours/quarter. Not sure if that is calculated by number of undergrads enrolled in the class to be TAed...? Also UC Davis folk: do I understand correctly that your financial support letters guarantee funding for 5 years, but that the specifc sources of the funding remain unnamed for years 2-5 and will vary by phd student?

anybody offered more than 5 years?

I spoke to one of my mentors about the Davis funding package this week. He did his PhD at a UC (not Davis) and was telling me that his TA appointment never really hit half-time hours while he was there. So you may be getting paid for the full funding amount, but rarely work the expected hours. Experiences may vary. 

As for the second part, the funding package I received said I'd be funded for a minimum of five years. 

[gingin6789]

I have been nominated for fellowships at UC Davis and NC State. Just got word back from NC State that I received a fellowship on top of my Teaching Assistantship offer. I'm very excited!

[SLPgradstudent]

5 minutes ago, gingin6789 said:

I have been nominated for fellowships at UC Davis and NC State. Just got word back from NC State that I received a fellowship on top of my Teaching Assistantship offer. I'm very excited!

Congratulations @gingin6789!!!  That's great news!

[gingin6789]

4 hours ago, SLPgradstudent said:

Congratulations @gingin6789!!!  That's great news!

Thanks so much, @SLPgradstudent!! <3

[ts1493]

18 hours ago, gingin6789 said:

I have been nominated for fellowships at UC Davis and NC State. Just got word back from NC State that I received a fellowship on top of my Teaching Assistantship offer. I'm very excited!

Yes, great news!!!  Whooohooooo

[gingin6789]

4 minutes ago, ts1493 said:

Yes, great news!!!  Whooohooooo

Thank you so much!! :-D with the fellowship, this puts my funding for NC state at the highest out of all my offers an far!

I wonder how it's structured though. Do they simply build it into my TA paychecks or is it paid in one lump sum? I've never had a fellowship before! 

[ts1493]

Just now, gingin6789 said:

Thank you so much!! :-D with the fellowship, this puts my funding for NC state at the highest out of all my offers an far!

I wonder how it's structured though. Do they simply build it into my TA paychecks or is it paid in one lump sum? I've never had a fellowship before! 

I have the same question!  I got a fellowship on top of my TA funding and am not sure either ... 

[gingin6789]

2 minutes ago, ts1493 said:

I have the same question!  I got a fellowship on top of my TA funding and am not sure either ... 

Oh that's amazing!! Congratulations to you too!! Hmm we will have to ask, I guess!! 

[krispykreme]

ru sure fellowship means more money on top of stipend? when I got fellowship my school emailed that they would reduce my teaching to quarter time (10 hours instead of 20)-- so same money at end of day but just less work...

[Katastrophe]

Just now, krispykreme said:

ru sure fellowship means more money on top of stipend? when I got fellowship my school emailed that they would reduce my teaching to quarter time (10 hours instead of 20)-- so same money at end of day but just less work...

I've heard something similar. At the places where I've been offered fellowships it's a condition of the fellowship that you can't hold another appointment at the same time. Could be different at different schools though!

 

[gingin6789]

5 minutes ago, krispykreme said:

ru sure fellowship means more money on top of stipend? when I got fellowship my school emailed that they would reduce my teaching to quarter time (10 hours instead of 20)-- so same money at end of day but just less work...

Good question. From nc state's soc website:

"These are first-year-
only supplements intended to attract superior graduate 
students. They are very competitive. Supplements are awarded 
across all university colleges/schools as a financial incentive 
above and beyond whatever fellowship or assistantship 
candidates have already been offered."

Above and beyond, to me, means on top of the TA ship. And as it mentions, it's for the first year only. 

Edited February 13, 2016 by gingin6789

[ts1493]

I'm sure schools use this term differently.  When I was contacted about admission to the program, I was told I would have $XY,000 in funding, guaranteed for five years.  Then I was contacted the next day and told I was also being offered the fellowship, for an additional $5000 guaranteed funding for the five years, on top of what I was originally offered.  My TA (and later TF) responsibilities remain the same and there is no additional academic requirement for the fellowship.  

Edited February 13, 2016 by ts1493

[gingin6789]

8 minutes ago, ts1493 said:

I'm sure schools use this term differently.  When I was contacted about admission to the program, I was told I would have $XY,000 in funding, guaranteed for five years.  Then I was contacted the next day and told I was also being offered the fellowship, for an additional $5000 guaranteed funding for the five years, on top of what I was originally offered.  My TA (and later TF) responsibilities remain the same and there is no additional academic requirement for the fellowship.  

Ok cool. From what it sounds like, it's similar to mine. So, say you got $17,000 in a stipend for TA duties, then you got $5,000 for a fellowship, it would equal $22,000. 

While krispy and kat warn that, in some other cases, a $5,000 fellowship would bump the TA stipend down to $12,000 in order to keep your funding at $17,000 per year.

Am I understanding this all correctly? Just wanna know I'm on the lookout for the right info haha :-)

Edited February 13, 2016 by gingin6789

[ts1493]

Yes, I think that's it.  I got two separate letters with the awards, and the POI explained it to me just as you said .... hope that's the case for you, too!