What if you get fired from RA/GA/TA?

[virtua]

Hi, guys,

I need your advice, I`m in a critical situation, I may loose my position (RA)... of course, I will try to do my best to meet expectations and not to get fired, but still nothing is guaranteed and I think about "what if" questions.

So what can I do, if I get fired?

My thoughts:

can I find a new professor to work with at the same uni?

can my adviser help me to move to another position at some other (or the same) university? can he anyhow help me to find any graduate position?

can I switch to master and find some scholarship or something?

I need you to share your experience/thoughts

[rising_star]

You need to talk to the Director of Graduate Studies about what your options are if you get fired from your current RA position.

[fuzzylogician]

15 hours ago, virtua said:

can I find a new professor to work with at the same uni?

can my adviser help me to move to another position at some other (or the same) university? can he anyhow help me to find any graduate position?

can I switch to master and find some scholarship or something?

1. Maybe, yes, but it's not that easy. Funding decisions are made some time in advance of a position opening, money isn't usually just sitting around. I would also say it depends on why you are losing your current funding and if you have your advisor and department's support or not. 

2. Yes, he can help if he wants to. He is not obligated to. Again, why are you losing your current funding? 

3. The ability to switch to a Masters depends on the school so that's something to find out department-internally (your department's secretary would probably know). And yes, there could be funding for that, but "finding some scholarship or something" isn't a thing that just happens. Again, it's not that easy to get funding. 

You need to talk to someone at your program who understands the situation, the DGS is a good choice, and maybe also the department chair. You also need to talk to the international students office to get exact details of what a change in funding status would mean for your status as a student.