The other day, I was doing some on-line research on doctoral programs (trying to find out relative costs and timelines) and I came across a couple of universities that actually have support in the form of tuition waivers, stipends, research/teaching assistantships, etc., that amount to a pretty decent package. For instance, the University of Houston package amounts to over $30,000 per year.
I’m wondering how common this is. I’m already pretty sure these programs are beyond “very competitive,” but it would sure be a way to make this dream/fantasy of mine more possible in the not too distant future.
So, anyone out there have any input on these kinds of support for doctoral students? I know you are expected to put in teaching time or help with research to the tune of 20 hours a week and are not allowed to have outside employment, but are there any other cautions or gotchas I should be aware of? Any personal experiences or anecdotes?
Thanks!
(P.S. Just in case it matters, I was looking at Management Information Systems-type programs)
My ex-wife had a package in computer science from the University of Tennessee that included a scholarhsip, teaching assistantship and campus job. It basically covered her tuition and what she would have paid to live in student housing. She didn’t get it until after she had proved herself in the program, though.
My current wife had a similar package from Washington University in St. Louis. Neither package paid enough to cover what it would have cost to live off-campus. They made extra money by tutoring, IIRC both packages expected more work than 20 hrs. per week, or maybe both of them just got wrapped up in the work.
It’s pretty common in the hard sciences at top schools, where they either (1) need you to teach and/or grade, or (2) have research grants that will pay you a stipend.
When I was a youngin’ and involved in such things, the real prize was getting (2) above, because that would allow you to progress on your thesis and get paid for it. Number (1) above would still pay the bills, but you would have to teach/grade and do your research, thus doubling up the work effort. Between classes, teaching, your thesis and drinking beer, there wasn’t a lot of time for sleep.
At the schools I went to for my M.S. and Ph.D., the split was about 70% for number (1) above, and 30% for number (2) above in the hard sciences (computer science and engineering disciplines).
It depends on what you’re studying, but in my field, molecular biology, grad student stipends are the norm. I’m getting paid about $22,000 a year to be a PhD student. That’s about average at all of the programs I looked at. It’s not enough for someone like me with a family, but it’s certainly better than a poke in the eye. Tuition is covered by the school, as is insurance for myself. I have to pay for my family’s.
As for expectations, generally I’m expected to treat my research like a full-time job and not work anywhere else. My mentor is pretty relaxed, though, and lets me do basically whatever I want. There are no set rules about hours per week or anything like that.
In biology, chemistry, and physics, such an arrangement is the norm. Fact is, grad students do much (most?) of the hands-on parts of academic research. They’re effectively hired as full-time apprentice scientists, and they’re expected to be working on research way more than 40 hours per week (after the first year or two of classes and rotations).
Now, the size of your stipend is a function of what field you work in, the school you go to, how well funded your lab is, and what fellowships you can score. In some situations, there’s only a token teaching requirement, but the option to do more teaching is there for those who need more money than their lab can provide. Here’s a chart comparing stipends in biomedical programs. Note that they bottom out around $20k, which you can find even at less prestigious (and less competitive) universities.
I can’t speak the field you’re looking at, however. The situation in biomedical research is probably a result of the relatively large amount of research funding.
In the UK, it’s the default to get paid for your doctorate, and if you’re paying to get a PhD, you’re going something wrong. I have a standard EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) studentship through the university’s DTA, and it amounts to a fee waiver, plus a standard stipend of ~£12,500 a year for three years, tax free.
I can do teaching (if I want to, it’s not a requirement) for up to ten hours a week during term time, for extra money.
Of course, getting a studentship via the EPSRC, MRC (medical and veterinary) or NERC (earth science) is a lot easier than through a research council covering the arts and humanities.
The general rule for US universities is that if you don’t receive funding for a doctorate, the school doesn’t really want you all that badly. There are a few specific exceptions–most notably, research schools without an undergraduate program–but you’ll hear about them as you need to.
I studied internal combustion engines for my MS and PhD. Received a research assistantship, with said research forming the subject matter of my theses. Starting salary in 1993 was just over $14,000, along with in-state tuition rates (about $2K-2.5K per semester, $500 in summer), free health insurance. Received generous cost-of-living increases every year. When I finally finished taking classes my tuition costs dropped significantly (still had to pay for a couple of thesis credits every semester, but not a full 12-credit load). Off-campus student housing was pretty cheap, something like $300/month if you were willing to tolerate a couple of roommates.
All in all, I lived pretty comfortably. It would be hard to go back to now that I’ve been out in the real world for ten years, but if you’re going into grad school from undergrad, the package I described was pretty sweet.
Although my paycheck came from the university, the funding ultimately was provided by engine manufacturers who were not equipped to do the kind of specialized research that my U’s department specialized in.
I have a PhD in computer science, paid all the way at two schools. My wife was a grad student in Bio at Dartmouth, and they had a school policy to pay all grad students for a reasonable number of years. My daughter is a PhD student in Psych, and has a nice fellowship.
Not counting fellowships, the schools I’ve been to set a standard stipend for RA/TA to avoid more politics between professors than is absolutely necessary. Sure those with big grants get the good students, but for the same money.
I agree with ultrafilter. In Engineering or the Sciences, if you don’t get money it is because no one thinks you can contribute, and you are very likely going to have a hard time getting cycles from a thesis advisor. This isn’t at all true for terminal Masters degrees, which could be seen as a source of income from the school, and which take up a lot less faculty time.
As others said, tuition waivers are extremely common if not the norm in U.S. Ph.D. programs and you usually get some money on top of that. It is usually a real job plus study time after all. Between research assistantships and teaching assistantships, they damn well be paying you something because you have to bust your ass harder than you may ever have to again in your life. When I went to Dartmouth in behavioral neuroscience, I got $14,000 a year which was fine for me at the time.
Thanks, folks, for the info so far. It is much appreciated, and sure does help in determining the lay of the land, so to speak.
I can see now that I was way off in my thinking about how doctoral programs worked.
Not that it is of any immediate concern. There’s a couple or three years to go before I am ready to perhaps pursue this…I’m still enjoying being back in grad school again part time and brushing up on twenty years of progress in computer science. It’s funny, but when I first set foot in college, all the professors were older than me. Now, well, not so much.
(…Heh, on that timeline, I would finish up a doctorate just about the time I’m eligible to draw my full social security benefits! (I turn 60 in about two weeks) But that’s all right, I say the heck with retiring, let’s go for a career change.)
Again, thanks so much for the input, and please do feel free to continue adding to my knowledge.
My fiancee is in the Higher Ed program at Penn State, working on her PhD. Don’t have the numbers in front of me, but she gets the full tuition waiver worth about $15,000, and has a gig as an editor on their journal for another $15,000 or so. I believe that is for 20 hours a week, but there isn’t a time clock.
Yep, it’s the norm for science and technology fields. The schools are competing for you to be their slave for 5 years. When you apply to grad schools, they will fly you all over the country to show you their school. Added up together, the whole process costs about 150K for each PhD. This is why I have no doubt that the government could increase the number of MD’s if it wanted. I don’t think MD’s should have to graduate with so much debt.
Social sciences do get considerably less funding. I earned double the salary of an English PhD, and didn’t have to teach/grade every semester. On the other hand, I probably worked longer hours.
If you’re well qualified for graduate work in your field, the problem is generally not getting admitted into a Ph.D. program. It’s really getting admitted into a Ph.D. program that will fund you while you’re a student. And how much funding will depend on your field. In the sciences, if you get admitted to multiple schools you can factor in the funding offer before deciding. Tuition waivers are almost always a given, but there are also fellowships, assistantships, associateships, etc. Some support involve teaching duties and some do not.
Well, you all have certainly increased my knowledge about this. Clearly, doctoral programs are an entirely different breed of cat from masters-level programs.
Yep, I can see that possibility. I’d be going for a teaching rather than research assistantship, since that’s where my interests lie, so even though it wouldn’t help for the dissertation research, there’s be less competition as I understand from the posts so far. Still, there would be other challenges as well, I know. I’m just thinking about it at this point anyway.
Hey, I could always threaten/intimidate them with my cane! Dang whippersnappers …
