Funding your PhD

[Timemachines]

Hi all,

Could perhaps current students or anyone that may have insight to this information address a bit of a silly question I have about clinical psych program costs: When you review program student admissions, outcomes and other data, some programs actually stipulate cost breakdowns:

Vs. others that seem to be fully funded (from my understanding):

Am I to assume that I will not be responsible for any costs if I am at a fully funded program, barring additional estimated fees for conference attendance etc AND will receive an annual stipend? For the universities that are not fully funded, can I assume that there will be opportunities to cover such costs with TAships or perhaps doctoral fellowships etc - and in addition to that assistance, will I be eligible to receive any sort of stipend ? Im not sure if any of this makes sense, I am essentially trying to get a better understanding of how folks fund their doctoral education. Any and all feedback would be appreciated!

[Clinapp2017]

This is a question to ask each program when you interview/are accepted, as sometimes these things are unclear and vary somewhat from institution to institution. 

[lewin]

You should ask each program because there's no universal definition of "fully funded" vs. not. These details might be on a website but, in my experience, might only be covered at interview day or after you get an offer. Very institution-specific.

But generally, even "fully funded" means that you are covered by a combination of tuition waivers, TA or RA work, and fellowship money. Is your second example box hypothetical? Because tuition rarely has a list price of $0 - it's often waived or covered from other sources. (This was the source of the recent debate about congress considering whether tax tuition waivers should be taxable.)   In a sense, it looks like you're describing two different forms of "fully funded" programs.

"Not fully funded" could mean anything from "only tuition covered, no stipend" to "no money or funding opportunities from us whatsoever." For example, the notorious NYU "Master's in general psychology" program that they throw as a consolation prize to lots of unsuccessful PhD applicants is >$25k tuition/year that you have to pay out-of-pocket, and there are generally no fellowship, TA, or RA opportunities available.

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by lewin

[Sherrinford]

The program I attend is fully funded and is similar to that second table you posted. Tuition is waived, and we receive a stipend for 9 months of the year (no summer funding is guaranteed, typically students teach a course or get funding through a research grant). We get a couple of hundred $ towards conferences/traveling each year. Other than that, we do have to pay student fees per semester which comes down to maybe 2-3 thousand a year. Also bear in mind that the stipend they cite you will be before taxes/health insurance etc so it will be a little less. I am not sure what the average stipend is, but it can typically range from 16,000 to 25,000 from what I've seen. What is much more important is the cost of living in the city of the school. 20,000 in Urbana, Illinois is very different from 20,000 in Manhattan, New York. Also, the way you get your stipend is by working and providing some kind of service. Most of the time that means TAing. If you're lucky or apply for it, you can get a research placement meaning you get your funding just by doing research. 

I am not sure about unfunded programs. But I do know most people have to take on graduate loans and that federal aid is minimum/non-existent unless you apply to specific scholarships. As others have noted, these are great questions to ask during your interview weekends. 

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Sherrinford

[Timemachines]

4 minutes ago, lewin said:

You should ask each program because there's no universal definition of "fully funded" vs. not. These details might be on a website but, in my experience, might only be covered at interview day or after you get an offer. Very institution-specific.

But generally, even "fully funded" means that you are covered by a combination of tuition waivers, TA or RA work, and fellowship money. Is your second example box hypothetical? Because tuition rarely has a list price of $0 - it's often waived or covered from other sources. (This was the source of the recent debate about congress considering whether tax tuition waivers should be taxable.)   In a sense, it looks like you're describing two different forms of "fully funded" programs.

"Not fully funded" could mean anything from "only tuition covered, no stipend" to "no money or funding opportunities from us whatsoever." For example, the notorious NYU "Master's in general psychology" program that they throw as a consolation prize to lots of unsuccessful PhD applicants is >$25k tuition/year that you have to pay out-of-pocket, and there are generally no fellowship, TA, or RA opportunities available.

 

Thanks for the feedback Lewin, the second box is not hypothetical and is taken from a clinical psych program at which I'll be interviewing. I started poking around looking at this information now and I cant say that funding details are entirely transparent so maybe speaking with current students and faculty at interviews as you suggested may answer my question. The debate in congress, at least to some extent, fueled a bit of my anxiety about how monetarily sustainable it is to attend a program. Will hope for the best, i suppose.

[lewin]

13 minutes ago, Timemachines said:

Thanks for the feedback Lewin, the second box is not hypothetical and is taken from a clinical psych program at which I'll be interviewing. I started poking around looking at this information now and I cant say that funding details are entirely transparent so maybe speaking with current students and faculty at interviews as you suggested may answer my question. The debate in congress, at least to some extent, fueled a bit of my anxiety about how monetarily sustainable it is to attend a program. Will hope for the best, i suppose.

I suspect they're showing net amounts and that in order to qualify for the $0 tuition you need some kind of TA work etc. But that's a wild guess and my comment about checking with each program individually stands.

[TakeruK]

In addition to what everyone said, sometimes the "budgets" or "cost of attendance" estimates presented by the school are well, just literally made-up numbers that might not be helpful. Numbers like tuition, fees, etc. are obviously real and reliable.

But my old PhD school also listed estimated costs for rent/room, food, travel, and books. These numbers are sometimes required for things like loan application or for international students to prove that they have enough funds to support themselves. However, they are often just plain made-up based on not realistic data (e.g. taking a number from some database instead of surveying students on actual cost) or they may have been indexed to some prior year values and then either never updated for inflation or only indexed to inflation instead of actual market trends. So, when it comes to determining how much your expenses will actually be, for costs not directly levied by the school, I would ask the current grad students and/or do my own research instead of making a decision based on these numbers.

(Finally, although I am not in this field, typically I would expect my advisor to pay for all conference related costs since it is a work trip and I am presenting work I did on behalf of the research group/department/school. But this could be a difference in norms between fields thing).