Need to choose between 2 fellowships

[Coffee Snob]

Hello beautiful & intelligent people,

First of all, allow me to share a backstory. I was not so lucky last admission cycle. I applied to 3 PhD programs in US and UK, and failed big time - rejected to all! This year, I'm beyond grateful. Not only that I secured a generous scholarship from my country's government to fund 4 years of my PhD study abroad, but I am also accepted in 3 great PhD programs. One of which is USC, and they offer me a generous fellowship regardless knowing that I applied with external funding secured from my home country. I'm considering of accepting this offer. However, I have to choose one out of this two offers. To break down:

1. USC's fellowship benefits: will cover 5 years with minimum stipend $26,000 annually (I'm eligible for stipend increase) before tax, full tuition waiver, insurance (+dental!), and student fees. This 5 year funding is actually 3 years of fellowship and 2 years of TA/RA. I am also eligible to apply for other grants (summer, travel, etc). Downside: does not cover my visa fees, flights, settlement allowance, etc. Required to teach for 2 years.
2. Home country government scholarship benefits: will cover 4 years of full tuition at my chosen PhD program, insurance (no dental), $22,950 annual stipend (not taxed). They will also pay 1 return tickets from my home country, visa ($180), application fees ($100), 1 settlement fund $3200, annual book allowance $750. In addition, on my 4th year I will receive dissertation research grant up to $9,000. They have publication incentives too (about $750 per publication for up to 2 publications). I'm not required to teach. Downside: It only covers 4 years of my study, so I still have to find funding for the 5th and remaining years. I am also restricted to work or apply for other grants during this 4 years. Most importantly, since this is a government funding, I will not have the same academic freedom as I normally have. For instance, I have to restrain myself from criticizing my government in my research (this is very hard to do in my field!), AND the contract says that the government institution granting me the scholarship has the right for copyright transfer of my dissertation (which means shared royalty if published... or worst, CENSORSHIP! *yikes!*)

I am leaning toward accepting USC's fellowship and turning down my government scholarship because my academic freedom is everything to me (and I hate the idea of sharing my dissertation copyright), but since I am already on their awardee list, turning down my government scholarship means that I will be blacklisted for their future funding projects.

If you were in my/similar position, what would you do?

Thank you in advance for reading and sharing your thoughts in this thread  

Edited February 4, 2017 by SEAsianIntl
I forgot to include tax information

[Icecream]

I would take the school based funding, since most people do need 5 years to finish their degrees AND I think having to deal with possible censorship could easily undermine your entire degree.  If you don't have academic freedom... you don't have much IF what you are trying to do is actual research on what you are interested in.  Or at least that's how it sounds to me.  Good luck and congrats!

[TakeruK]

Congratulations on your offer! This is a tough decision. I am surprised at all of the restrictions of the government fellowship (especially if declining means you are blacklisted). Have you discussed these possibilities with the school yet? That is, some schools will allow you to defer their award if you have your own. Can you ask USC to allow you to be funded on the home country fellowship for 4 years and then on their fellowship for 1 year? (If you are leaning towards home country government fellowship, then this will at least remove one difference). Also, are you able to take the home country fellowship and get a "top up" from USC so that your total stipend is $26,000?

But after reading what you said about the other aspects, I would also lean towards the USC fellowship. The blacklist thing is worrisome though, unless you know for sure that you don't want to work in your home country in the future. The money difference is also substantial. The USC fellowship will award you $15000 more in funding in 5 years. The extra money from your home country is probably valued at around...$7000? Is the home country government value fixed at 22,950 USD or would it fluctuate with changing currency rates? Taxes will be something like 10% for you, so I guess that makes the funding values almost the same for both fellowships.

To what extent is the dissertation copyright transfer required by your home government fellowship? Note that the standard practice at North American school is that while you hold the copyright to your dissertation, you must also grant the school an unlimited license to reproduce the work and share it. Note that a copyright applies only specifically to the way the material is put together in a dissertation. That is, if I turn my dissertation into a book at another date, the University would not have a license to copy and distribute the book version. 

I would be very worried about academic freedom though. I guess I don't know what your specific field of study but if you wanted to take the home government fellowship, could you choose a topic that doesn't involve your home government? You can always work on those questions later on. 

And finally one last note, the University of Southern California is in a very expensive part of the country. I am at a nearby school and we just got our school to raise our minimum stipend to 33,000 per year because of the cost of living increases in the last few years. I think the difference between 26,000 and 23,000 per year is a big deal.

Okay so what would I do? I come from a field where I can change topics pretty easily so as long as censorship only applies to one topic and I can choose another topic where I'm not worried about censorship, I would try to negotiate with USC. The USC fellowship is basically valued at 130,000 USD and requires 2 years of TA/RA. I would offer to take the home country fellowship, ask for a top-up of $3050 per year for the first four years, and then the full fellowship value in the final year. This is asking for $38,200 in total from USC, which is much less than $130,000 that they are offering. You can also offer to TA or RA for 1 or 2 years too, since that's part of the USC offer.

If you can find a topic that allows you to avoid censorship/interference from your home government, then I think the above request will let you have the best of both worlds. It's commonly done in my field. It will also allow you to avoid being blacklisted. Oh also, unless there is some specific tax treaty for your home country, you only pay tax to the US on the US-based income, so it will be effectively no taxes for the first 4 years.

However, if USC doesn't agree to it or you cannot find an acceptable way to avoid censorship, I'd pick the USC fellowship.

[Coffee Snob]

Thank you @JJCA! Yes, the research I really want to do is on the hegemonic power in the Pacific, so it might be prone to censorship in my home country.

 

@TakeruK thanks for your constructive feedback! Allow me to clarify...

11 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Have you discussed these possibilities with the school yet? That is, some schools will allow you to defer their award if you have your own. Can you ask USC to allow you to be funded on the home country fellowship for 4 years and then on their fellowship for 1 year? (If you are leaning towards home country government fellowship, then this will at least remove one difference). Also, are you able to take the home country fellowship and get a "top up" from USC so that your total stipend is $26,000?

The 4 year funding + USC funding might be possible, and is definitely something I've been thinking about. But no, I'm not leaning toward the gov's fellowship. As for "top off", unfortunately this won't be allowed if I take the gov's fellowship. They make it really clear in the contract that I am not allowed to secure any other grant/fellowship/top off or work during this 4 year - not even in the summer. With USC's fellowship at least I can seek TA/RA during the summer or apply for Summer grant.

11 hours ago, TakeruK said:

The blacklist thing is worrisome though, unless you know for sure that you don't want to work in your home country in the future.

Actually I am already working in my home country as a tenured professor, and during my PhD study I will be on academic leave. Worth noting that there are other funding opportunities from my home country, not only from this particular government institution (although it is known to be one of the most generous in my country).

11 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Is the home country government value fixed at 22,950 USD or would it fluctuate with changing currency rates? Taxes will be something like 10% for you, so I guess that makes the funding values almost the same for both fellowships.

It will be fixed at 22,950 in US currency, so no fluctuation and it'll not be taxed (nett). 

11 hours ago, TakeruK said:

To what extent is the dissertation copyright transfer required by your home government fellowship? Note that the standard practice at North American school is that while you hold the copyright to your dissertation, you must also grant the school an unlimited license to reproduce the work and share it. Note that a copyright applies only specifically to the way the material is put together in a dissertation. That is, if I turn my dissertation into a book at another date, the University would not have a license to copy and distribute the book version.

I'm aware of the license of dissertation distribution from the university, and I think what is said in the government contract is a different thing. It is rather unclear in their contract, very slippery. I've asked them to clarify, and they said that there will be another process (a separate contract) of copyright transfer IF they demand. But if they don't even bother to demand the copyright transfer (they have thousands of awardees so they might not scrutinize each one of us), then nothing will happen. However, having the contract allows them to have a certain level of power on publishing my dissertation. I know that I am worrying about the worst case scenario (which might not happen): not being able to publish my work or being censored. My country has a history of intellectual censorship, so yes, it is something scholars in our field (humanities & social sciences) in our country are always worried about. I have not signed any contract from the government yet, so nothing is binding for now, but since my name is already in their awardee list, hence the blacklist. I might try negotiating with them and see if it is possible not to be blacklisted (I've done some volunteer work for them anyway, and planning to keep contributing in the future)

 

I've shared this issue with my POI at USC, and she's been very supportive, but basically they are waiting to hear what my gov's fellowship think about the double fellowships. It feels like I'm playing poker right now. Wish me luck. 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by SEAsianIntl

[Icecream]

4 minutes ago, SEAsianIntl said:

Thank you @JJCA! Yes, the research I really want to do is on the hegemonic power in the Pacific, so it might be prone to censorship in my home country.

 

@TakeruK thanks for your constructive feedback! Allow me to clarify...

The 4 year funding + USC funding might be possible, and is definitely something I've been thinking about. But no, I'm not leaning toward the gov's fellowship. As for "top off", unfortunately this won't be allowed if I take the gov's fellowship. They make it really clear in the contract that I am not allowed to secure any other grant/fellowship/top off or work during this 4 year - not even in the summer. With USC's fellowship at least I can seek TA/RA during the summer or apply for Summer grant.

Actually I am already working in my home country as a tenured professor, and during my PhD I will be on academic leave. Worth noting that there are other funding opportunities from my home country, not only from this particular government institution (although it is known to be one of the most generous in my country).

It will be fixed at 22,950 in US currency, so no fluctuation and it'll not be taxed. 

I'm aware of the license of dissertation distribution from the university, and I think what is said in the government contract is a different thing. It is rather unclear in their contract, very slippery. I've asked them to clarify, and they said that there will be another process (a separate contract) of copyright transfer IF they demand. But if they don't even bother to demand the copyright transfer (they have thousands of awardees so they might not scrutinize each one of us), then nothing will happen. However, having the contract allows them to have a certain level of power on publishing my dissertation. I know that I am worrying about the worst case scenario (which might not happen): not being able to publish my work or being censored. My country has a history of intellectual censorship, so yes, it is something scholars in our field (humanities & social sciences) in our country are always worried about. I have not signed any contract from the government yet, so nothing is binding for now, but since my name is already in their awardee list, hence the blacklist. I might try negotiating with them and see if it is possible not to be blacklisted (I've done some volunteer work for them anyway, and planning to keep contributing in the future)

 

I've shared this issue with my POI at USC, and she's been very supportive, but basically they are waiting to hear what my gov's fellowship think about the double fellowships. It feels like I'm playing poker right now. Wish me luck. 

 

This sounds very difficult.  Perhaps you can turn down the government funding diplomatically enough that they will not blacklist you...?  Or, perhaps once they see your research results they will either A) suppress your results if you take their funding or B ) blacklist you anyway? In which case, perhaps B is the better option?  I don't know enough about the politics you are dealing with to know... Again, good luck.

[Coffee Snob]

26 minutes ago, JJCA said:

This sounds very difficult.  Perhaps you can turn down the government funding diplomatically enough that they will not blacklist you...?  Or, perhaps once they see your research results they will either A) suppress your results if you take their funding or B ) blacklist you anyway? In which case, perhaps B is the better option?  I don't know enough about the politics you are dealing with to know... Again, good luck.

Thank you.

As difficult as it may sound, a good friend reminded me yesterday that this is such a "wonderful problem" that I have. Many of my friends signed the gov's fellowship contract anyway (despite the risks) because they did not have other options. Some others are still struggling to get acceptance to graduate school, while many of my friends in the US work 2-3 part time jobs to pay their student loans.

I am still extremely grateful for this two options that I have. Last year, I didn't think it would happen to me.

Edited February 5, 2017 by SEAsianIntl

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

From a social science perspective, I'd go with USC's funding. The possibility of censorship on research is just too much in my opinion. I also enjoy TA/RA jobs so that's not really a negative from my point of view, haha. I'd just be very gracious in how I refuse the government grant and you don't necessarily even need to bring up the censorship issue. USC is offering you more with more options to increase your funding and, when living in LA, that makes a huge difference. 

[TakeruK]

It sounds like the USC fellowship is a much better fit then! Hope you are able to avoid the blacklist

[CoffeeFueledAnxiety]

Hi, I think I know exactly the government scholarship you are talking about, I guess we're from the same country.

Last year, after reading the kinds of contract they have with their awardee I decided that I value my academic freedom too much to apply to them. Therefore, I took the risk and applied only to programs that guarantee funding for their students even though my family, friends, and professors keep telling me to at least apply for the scholarship. Fortunately I have received fully funded offers with combination of TA/RA and fellowship. I think this is a much better deal since I want to add teaching experience and also research grants etc in my CV, which I would not be able to in the case of that governmental scholarship. 

[Coffee Snob]

Thank you for your comment @GreenEyedTrombonist 

@CoffeeFueledAnxiety Haha, I might have spilled too many details about the scholarship then. Also, congratulations to your acceptance! I guess we're both pretty lucky compared to many of them who do not have options but to sign the contract. 

[CoffeeFueledAnxiety]

@SEAsianIntl Haha, not too worry, it's just because I've researched quite a bit about the scholarship too  Yes you're right, I'm very grateful for having the ability to say no in the first place. Congratulations on yours, too!