Grad school living stipends and external support

[swisnieski]

Does anyone know if grad schools that pay living stipends for full-time graduate students continue to pay those stipends even if the student is already receiving one from an outside source (e.g., the NSF GRFP, Javitz, etc.)?

I ask because I'm looking at how easily I'll be able to live on a grad school stipend. I'm hoping to get into Carnegie Mellon with full funding, which would give me a stipend of around $1800-$1900. But let's say I get the NSF GRFP on top of that, which would pay me $2500 a month and the school $10,500 a year. That would mean I'd be making as much as $4400 a month, or over $50,000 a year before taxes. For a grad student, that seems outrageous, which is why I wonder if the school would even continue to pay me their stipend and instead to decide to let me live off the NSF's.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Edited December 16, 2009 by swisnieski

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

I'm fairly certain that if you receive a grant from NSF etc. you will not receive additional school funding on top of that. They're going to use their money to instead fund another student.

[tarski]

Example of how it works (I think) for the PhDs at my institution (SSHRC is a Canadian external award):

No SSHRC: tuition waiver + stipend

SSHRC: tuition waiver + SSHRC money + $5,000

[swisnieski]

Example of how it works (I think) for the PhDs at my institution (SSHRC is a Canadian external award):

No SSHRC: tuition waiver + stipend

SSHRC: tuition waiver + SSHRC money + $5,000

Ah, so you lose the stipend but they give you kind of a kickback for saving them money?

[eucalyptus]

You almost certainly won't get both stipends. Usually you get just the stipend from the external source, and the department uses the money they're not spending on you on someone else. A lot of places will give you a "top-up" to your external stipend though (maybe $5000/year), as an added incentive for students to apply for external money.

[tarski]

Ah, so you lose the stipend but they give you kind of a kickback for saving them money?

Yep. The actual stipend would be around 15,000, but you save them money, so they still give you some extra.

[UnlikelyGrad]

Yep. The actual stipend would be around 15,000, but you save them money, so they still give you some extra.

That would be nice, but I don't know how common it is.

My sister said that her school reduced her stipend by the exact amount of the NSF stipend. (This was in the days before the NSF paid much, so the school stipend was actually higher.) Needless to say, she was a bit miffed.

[liszt85]

That would be nice, but I don't know how common it is.

My sister said that her school reduced her stipend by the exact amount of the NSF stipend. (This was in the days before the NSF paid much, so the school stipend was actually higher.) Needless to say, she was a bit miffed.

This is exactly what Northwestern told me. Their stipend (Linguistics program) was fixed at $20,500 a year. I asked them if I could get more than that if I applied to and won a scholarship/fellowship that carried a higher award. They told me that they had a policy by which I'd end up getting just the 20,500 in any case. They might make the necessary adjustment in some other form, maybe reduce the tuition support by an appropriate amount?

[dzk]

I asked them if I could get more than that if I applied to and won a scholarship/fellowship that carried a higher award. They told me that they had a policy by which I'd end up getting just the 20,500 in any case.

A higher award? Did you make a typo here? No school is going to take external funding away from you if it goes over their stipend. If you win an award that gives you a $30,000 stipend, then you'll certainly get it in full. If you win a $10,000 award, then yeah, they might reduce your stipend to $10,500.

[liszt85]

A higher award? Did you make a typo here? No school is going to take external funding away from you if it goes over their stipend. If you win an award that gives you a $30,000 stipend, then you'll certainly get it in full. If you win a $10,000 award, then yeah, they might reduce your stipend to $10,500.

No, they meant exactly that. Even if I won a 25K award, they would adjust their own award (probably the tuition fee?) to even out things.. I'd end up with the 20.5 regardless of what award I win (unless its some graduate teaching award or something like that). This was one of the many reasons I chose not to attend NU.

[coyabean]

No, they meant exactly that. Even if I won a 25K award, they would adjust their own award (probably the tuition fee?) to even out things.. I'd end up with the 20.5 regardless of what award I win (unless its some graduate teaching award or something like that). This was one of the many reasons I chose not to attend NU.

I'm indignant on your behalf! That's crazy. It smells like a hustle to me.

[laska2]

Yale I know for example allows grad students to double up on outside and inside fellowships. So, I believe, you could have the Yale fellowship -- like $25k -- plus an NSF, for a total of 55k per year. If you get a Javits, however, you would probably only receive part of it, because they base the fellowship amount on need.

The important question to ask in my opinion, though, is whether or not a grad program will give you their guaranteed years of funding if you receive an outside fellowship. So, for example, if a program usually provides PhD students with two years of stipend and you receive an NSF, will they still guarantee the two years of stipend? I think it would be good to try to get programs to commit to a position before attending because if you receive an NSF or Javits after you agree to attend, your negotiating position will be weakened.