Advice on my offer

[Wee-Bey]

Hello!

So I am going to keep this somewhat anonymous, but was hoping for some advice on my current situation. I applied to two PhD programs--have heard back from one and am still waiting on the other. I was accepted at the first program, but did not receive full funding. Although there are still some potential funding options within the university that I am hoping to receive, (and my POI says she is fighting for me) my current offer leaves me without about $10,000 a year uncovered. I was pretty set that I would not be able to make this work, and then recently found a ministry position in the area that would pay me about $10k a year, for not much responsibility outside of Sundays. So that, with the already guaranteed money, would put me at about even for tuition. So according to my math, I would need to work my part time job like 2 days a week for rent and living expenses--coupled with my spouses salary, to live comfortably. For the sake of brevity, basically what I am asking---is this insane? I have tried to justify the church gig as some sort of weird TA position that takes 6 hours of my life a week for 10k in tuition...So I would do the church thing on Sundays, and work 2 days a week for bills--is that too much with the workload of a PhD. program? The program is TT, and my POI is a perfect fit, and seems really excited to work with me. I just don't want to overstretch myself trying to make ends meet and not be able to do well. 

I'm hoping to hear from option 2 this week, and if I get accepted there, and it's fully funded my decision will be a lot easier. But in the mean time I'm just trying to figure out how I can make this option work. I would be bummed if I got accepted to a place and couldn't make it work financially. In a weird way I would almost prefer not to have been accepted than have a possibility come this close and not be able to justify it. Any advice would be great! 

[ibnbattuta]

I can only offer some advice from my position as a recent admit to PhD programs.  When you say work two days a week, do you mean roughly 16 hours, if so that would put you at about 22 hours a week, which is manageable from what I know from my colleagues who have TAed and been employed concomitantly.  Re: funding, you should ask your PoI if there is any chance that the university would increase your funding next year, or ask if there are internal Graduate/Teaching Assistant-ships or other positions that would cover the gap in funding.  The problem that may arise is that your ministry job may not be available in subsequent years, so while you may have the first year set, it is not ideal to have to worry about funding from year to year.

Also, does the PhD program have TA requirements?  If so, you have to consider that in subsequent years you would need to TA, and work the extra hours a week on top of your coursework, which could be extremely cumbersome especially as you are preparing for comprehensive exams.  Lastly, as everyone oft repeats, never go in debt for a PhD.  Hope this helps.

[Apogeee]

Ditto the advice above. Did you ask the school about funding options for this year? If the Church job is relevant to your field, you could want to do that anyway, but as to the other expenses and the additional part time work, perhaps you can do something via work-study that keeps you on campus, and perhaps even in your department.

[Wee-Bey]

Yes, working 2 days a week would mean like two 8 hour shifts, equaling 16 hours--putting me at around 20-22 for the week with the church gig. There is always a chance for additional funding, but it also sounds fairly plausible that this could just be my situation all the way through, also the program has no TA requirements, and TA positions are pretty difficult to acquire due to the size of the program. The church job, as well as my part time gig (which I have done throughout my MA), are both relevant to my research interests, and would also provide me the opportunity of building my resume a little outside of academia, which I don't mind doing with the current job market.

I really appreciate the responses! I'm definitely not going to go into debt for the PhD, but also don't want to NOT do it if there is a chance to make it work. So just to recap, you think working 20-24ish hours a week on top of a PhD caseload won't kill me or be so much time that it could negatively impact my academic performance? 

Thanks again! 

[dr. t]

20 hours ago, Wee-Bey said:

...my current offer leaves me without about $10,000 a year uncovered. ... For the sake of brevity, basically what I am asking---is this insane?

Yes.

Do not take a PhD offer that does not come with full funding. That means tuition, stipend, health insurance. Whether or not you can manage to support yourself and stay human (possible, but not probable), the people you will be competing with for jobs on the other end, who have full packages, won't have even had to worry about it. 

[sacklunch]

I mostly agree with telkanuru. If you want to stay in the academy then I would say your chances of getting a job when you're done are not great. I assume this is a PhD in the US? If so, the fact that they are not funding you completely (are others getting full?) suggests the program is not well-known and then further indicates you will struggle to find a job when you're done. 

[CosmicMarpeck]

43 minutes ago, sacklunch said:

I mostly agree with telkanuru. If you want to stay in the academy then I would say your chances of getting a job when you're done are not great. I assume this is a PhD in the US? If so, the fact that they are not funding you completely (are others getting full?) suggests the program is not well-known and then further indicates you will struggle to find a job when you're done. 

No, not in the US, so some of the problem is I am getting as much funding as everyone else, but I have to pay international fees. Also, some of the additional funding I'm competing for isn't for international students. But yeah, definitely would feel nervous not having everything guaranteed up front. 

[sacklunch]

It being outside the US changes things. It is quite common, as I'm sure you know, for non-EU students to get zero funding from even places like Oxbridge. Again, without specifics it's hard to say, but general knowledge is it's difficult to get a job in the US if you did your PhD abroad and you're American. Why? Because they assume you are 1) under prepared (no course work and for most Americans a lack of language prep.) and 2) conservative (it is a common stereotype that religious conservatives go abroad, esp. to Europe, to get their PhD [from my own exp. this is in biblical/textual disciplines ]). Again, this all assumes you want to stay in the US and you want an academic job (a 'secular' job in the sense that you will not be working at a theological school without ties to a college/university).