mewtoo

Thanks so much for the info!

Hey, glad to see another person so recently posting on here! I may be going to NDSU in the fall as well to start my phd. I will find out soon as I have a visitation/interview there next month. My main concern is, however: I'm from the south and have never been in more than an inch or so of snow. WHAT IS SNOW? HOW DO I SNOW? (You know nothing, John Snow). I GET COLD IN 60 DEGREE WEATHER. AM I GOING TO DIE? Srsly, gais. Srsly. I'm not so worried about what y'all call a "small" city (the biggest city I would have lived in to date by FAR if I end up there) and finding things to do. I'm more interested in finding a nice, cheap, pet friendly place to live if I end up there and also, obviously, omg the weather. In March its practically already summer here. I asked if it'd be snowy when I visit then and the professor basically said "don't worry, we always drop everyone off by the door so just make sure to bundle up!" That was a terrifying response to me. This isn't just simply not being used to cold, but I don't know how to drive in snow, even really walk in snow, and I'm also clumsy as hell and have convinced myself I'll probably break my ankle for the 3rd time while there. If I get accepted with funding I'm 99% sure I'm going to go there, but I'm scared. lol Also, for the weather in the beginning of next month, is a normal thicker coat adequate or am I going to have to find a new jacket and go all out?

Oh, I see the typo I made! I totally wrote stipend in the paragraph I wrote. I meant my waiver. I'll edit it.

No, I know my stipend is being taxed and is supposed to, its a job. However on my pay stub it actually states in my earnings my tuition waiver. I'm only getting paid 900, but because of that it says I'm earning nearly 3k. They are taxing me on it according to my pay stub. " Description Rate Hours Earnings Earnings Teaching Graduate Assista 900.00 900.00 Tuition Fee Waiver 1,831.88 1,831.88 Total: 2,731.88 2,731.88 " " GROSS TAXABLE GRS TAX DED NET PAY 900.00 2,731.88 372.88 0.00 527.12 900.00 2,731.88 372.88 0.00 527.12 " See, they are counting my tuition remission as taxable gross income.

I got my pay stub and it seems that they are counting my waiver as earned income and are taxing it, making it where out of my $900 paycheck, nearly $400 is being held out for taxes! I've looked up the tax code and it seems like if you are a RA or TA (I'm an RA) then your waiver should not be taxed. I'm very confused though (how could they make a mistake like that?). Am I right in believing that my waiver should not be taxed? I plan on going to the HR office tomorrow and asking about it so they can fix it before I'm to get paid on Friday if its messed up, but I don't want to be completely off base. Here is one document I found that leads me to believe that, as well as other school's websites I've seen. http://gradschool.utk.edu/files/graduate%20fee%20waiver%20faq.pdf

I hate your signature so much. lol

I just had this problem but my loans were reduced because of my assistantship. Are you out if state? Make sure they have your budget set up for an out of state person if so. They were only going to give me 1800 for a year and then I made them catch the mistake. Now I have plenty to live on. Go to the financial aid office. Loans is supposed to cover cost of attendance which includes money to live on. Even for masters level.

No. I totally understand existential depression, I suffer from it quite often. If your suicidal ideation is that strong, seek treatment for it. Unless you apply to every single anthro program in the world and rejected from all of them, I see not point in killing yourself over your perceived failure as you do not even know if you are barred from everywhere. There are schools that will most likely accept you, especially if you highlight why your GPA is this low (struggles when you were young and first going) and highlight your current GPA. These schools will not be top schools by any means, but they can be reputable. Target small, regional college town schools. For instance, my undergrad university will accept nearly anyone, even sub 3.0-ers. Don't be fooled by this however, these are very reputable programs and people go on to good phd programs from it (one of my friends did). There will be plenty more schools like this. Just don't give up. If you are serious, get help.

You will need more than a few months of research experience to be considered at any reputable phd program. We're talking at least 2 years and usually with a least a few posters. Places like Alliant are diploma mills. What are you wanting to do with this degree? If academia, you must go to a reputable program, the kind you need lots of research experience for. A phd in clinical psych is not a "last minute decision," its one of the most competitive types of doctoral programs in the country and takes a LOT of preparation. People come with killer GREs, GPAs, and publications and sometimes don't get in. If you want this, definitely put in the leg work. Start volunteering in a lab right now, do this for a few years. If you can one day, get a full time paid research assistant job, though these are very hard to come by and extremely competitive too! Any program you are considering, look at the admissions data. If its an APA accredited program (you shouldnt go to non) it will have it on its website. For example, here's the data for the program you want to go to: http://www.psychology.sdsu.edu/doctoral/Demographics.html Compare yourself to this data because this is about what it takes to get in. What it doesn't show is how much research experience is needed, unfortunately.

I believe she is in state because she actually asked me if I thought there was a difference between us such as out of state. I thought perhaps it was how much my tuition cost versus the $20k cap on finaid, but finaid is calculated based on how much your tuition should be, so a in state person would have a smaller cap on finaid, say like $15k instead. If that was the case they should be having the same problems as me. In the email she said the loan was "the biggest I've ever been offered," leading me to think that must not be the case. FWIW, my uncle who went to school in the same state was also an out of state resident and didn't have it mess with his loan amounts. I'm really starting to lean toward what I've heard others say that its probably a clerical error. In UG I was once charged out of state tuition when I'd lived in that state my entire life and a friend of mine somehow didn't realize until her senior year that she had been charged out of state tuition the entire time when she was a state resident all along, so I know that these errors are very common. I just wish my school would have been open today so I could get this taken care of, or if we were all wrong, go cry in the fetal position in the corner.

This may sound super creepy but I may have met you irl at the Oklahoma State interview, although I was on the clinical side. Small world. o_O Pretty sure at $9k for the year my stipend shouldn't affect anything (doesn't pass the threshold for finaid), but my $18k in tuition waiver (I'm out of state) sure is trying to.

I would assume its the same type of loan, unsubsidized. Not sure about masters vs phd, but the other GA is also going to be a masters student. I'm going to have fun calling today if they are open. I'll update here. Edit: Closed till Monday.

I've had some people with doctorates tell me it shouldn't count against loans and it didn't for them. o_O Elli, it seems like that's what my school is trying to do but others say that's not how its supposed to work? Also, mine was estimated for just purely tuition and fees, no cost of living factored in at all. My adviser pulled through for me and emailed back, she didn't know but suggested people to call and she also forwarded my email to other GAs. One GA emailed back saying her waiver didn't affect her loan amount and hasn't heard that happening to other GAs. Ugh.

I've received a full tuition waiver and will be getting a very, very, very small stipend at a regional uni. I need loans to supplement this as I like to eat everyday, I find its a very helpful thing to do. I also don't like sleeping under a cardboard box although I'm sure the night sky view is great. I accepted my loan amount, things were all good until my tuition waiver finally credited to my account and they changed my loan amount to where I only get 900 a semester! The financial aid office keeps enforcing that this is how its supposed to be, the waiver acts as a grant and thus affects your loan amount. I emailed the graduate program adviser but of course she's out until the 15th of this month. This is not correct procedure, is it? My uncle went to graduate school in the same exact state a few years ago and says that's not how it was for him! I just really want to know if my uni is apparently full of BS and doesn't know what its doing (which, although we like to think is not possible, totally is) or if I'm just screwed and have a high chance of not even being able to attend now. I'm prepared to rip the school a new one if they are trying to screw me over and are doing it wrong, but I can't seem to get a good answer one way or the other. Please help before I have a nuclear meltdown. I'm only partly joking.

I've been having this going on all summer, but I had to write and submit a poster abstract the other day within 24 hours (my prof procrastinated herself and didn't give me the data till the midnight before!). Since then I've been able to start working on coming up with a proposal! It's like it broke through that "it's summer!" mental block for me.