1/ Hey everyone, welcome back to “how do I grad school?” Today we are going to talk about money, and fair warning that it’s not a super cheery conversation, and that I have to issue some caveats.

2/ First, for some people graduate school is their first stable income and a huge quality of life improvement despite the fact that finances are really tight. This doesn’t make the issues any less severe, but it is important to recognize we come from many different places. 

3/Second, I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice, what I am trying to do is illustrate what costs have looked like for ***me*** during graduate school when I was a single grade student living alone, as this will be the situation for a lot of people. 

4/That being said, what are some of the takeaways? First, stipends rarely cover living expenses completely unless you are willing to make large sacrifices. Some of these will be more problematic for some people than others: e.g. get a roommate, don’t drive, use a flip phone. 

5/Second, rental companies usually only rent without a cosigner if your income is 3x your rent (in the US). This leaves a lot of housing unavailable to graduate students and can necessitate getting a roommate. 

6/College fees and parking passes are usually not included in tuition waivers. These vary greatly depending on the University. My college fees are $200 to $400 a semester, some Universities charge as much as a full month of pay. This makes no sense, but…roll tide? 

7/So, what can we do to fill in some of these gaps? First, it is important to start learning where money is on your campus. Most departments and colleges have funds to send students to conferences – find out what institutions at your University do this, it will save you $$$! 

8/But also realize these work on reimbursement, so you still have to pay upfront – again, a huge problem for people whose income does not cover their living expenses! 

9/Second, you can try to get short-term research assistantships with professors, but these usually only come about when you are ABD. How do you get these? (1) having the same research interests as a prof. this will make you the most qualified for that position, and/or 

10/ (2) staying in communication with your department about your summer funding and/or overall financial situation so that if something comes up they will let you know. Lots of profs get start up funds or yearly research funds and so can hire students this way. 

11/ some conferences will also have opportunities. BUT, in both cases don’t expect to get your money right away. University bureaucracy is frustratingly slow – sometimes profs end up having to front the money and have you reimburse them when you get $$$ 

12/ back from the University 3-9 months later (yes, I said nine). There is also often summer teaching, and this is usually distributed by seniority. My University historically has been able to get most/all people wanting to teach in the summers jobs, BUT 

13/ Covid has changed all of this. Yah, covid sucks. But, none of these sources are going to fully cover the deficit between living expenses and your income. And we have not even gotten to emergencies OR conferences (in detail). 

14/ At risk of making this too long, I discuss these things and more in the video, but the upshot is that PhD students are underpaid and most will have to take out a significant amount in loans. 

15/ One final note, I muse in the video what reasonable costs for food are. The USDA estimates a ‘thrifty’ budget to be about $197/mo. Because of our time constraints, you will likely be spending more (I estimated $250, and that might be low). 

16 (end)/ Okay, one more note – most Universities will offer health insurance, but not dental or vision. Again, another thing that does not make much sense, and another potential place for money you don’t have to go.