On average, how much do graduate assistantships/fellowships pay?

[Darus Grey]

Seriously? 30k? Sounds high lol

Edit: okay, the link says 17k for research and 11k for teaching, which is more than sufficient (well 11k for teaching sounds like less than I make now, but hopefully I'll have less expenses by then)

Edit: Actually that's 11k+8k. And even more for people with a MS. I'll have an MS in math, but I'll be working on physics, so I'm guessing I'll count as "not having a MS".

I got 33k, so it's in the same ballpark.

[Enkidu]

I make about 20k after taxes as a TA for spring/fall. I'll make slightly more when I'm moved to a full-time RA, but I expect that to take a year or so. This includes a 6k TA stipend that basically says "you can't work outside of the university and still get this". So you could work a second job if you could justify saying no to a free $6,000... I couldn't!

Personally I have no money issues, but only because my fiance works in insurance and makes more then enough to compensate. The other TA's don't seem stretched for cash though. Chemistry department, if you're wondering.

[Tristam]

I got tuition + 25k/yr stipend, which is close to the NIH cap for grad students (as I understand it that is), and was enough to keep me happy and having fun in philly. I had a buddy in applied physics, his financial situation was very similar, and his funding agency was DARPA.

If you're a stud and have great grades, look into applying for grants, you might be able to net more money, or at least get to buy yourself a fancy laptop for work. Good luck with applications, you've got research experience so you'll be solid, that's by far the most important thing.

[Neosutra]

For TAing as a graduate student, I was given full academic coverage (no tuition cost) and a stipend of about 3000 a semester.. I wouldnt expect a "salary" for being a graduate TA. Part of being a PhD student is being bum fuck poor and working 18 hour days (studying, teaching, researching, writing thesis). Enjoy the pain, was the best time of my life.

You wont start being salaried to TA/teach until your post-doc unless your university locks in a few assistant spots via grants or special research projects. (Then again every university is different and Alabama/California could have just been cheap asses..). I was hurting for cash until I started up at Los Alamos (they take care of their grad students!)

[Darus Grey]

I always find it weird when people say things like that(working 18hs a day).

My (first)PhD experience was the most boring dull thing imaginable. I couldn't officially work, but I owned my own business and just lied frankly, and still had more free time than I cared to admit. They had it setup where you could basically only take 1-2 classes a semester, teach or TA 1-2, and then...yay? People love to exaggerate how much time they spent on their dissertation. I spent about a month collecting data, but thats not fulltime and it's all passive in my case since it was just leaving tape recorders in gay people's homes, then two weeks of writing and done.

My undergrads were more intensive, they just weren't as drawn out.

[Kaylia]

I always find it weird when people say things like that(working 18hs a day).

You werent in physics, were you?

[kuronosan]

Most places will pay your tuition and give a stipend of anywhere from $20,000-$30,000/yr depending on program and location.

[SwinglineStapler]

I'm doing my PhD now in Psychology and we get 18.5k/year for our assistantships (for TA, RA only happens for us if someone gets a grant, and then the amount varies) . The PhD students over in the physics/chemistry/biology departments get about 22-23k/year. We get tuition waivers too, which is nice.

[Mizango]

You know you want to move down here anyway :D We can let our physic twin powers activate and move closer to global domination!

We've had this discussion....

[volcanicweather]

I was just talking with my friend yesterday about this... he's a grad student at the U of Minnesota in the healthcare industry. He's making $15/hr, working about 20 hours a week. So that's somewhere around $15-$20k per year.

[Woozie]

You know you want to move down here anyway :D We can let our physic twin powers activate and move closer to global domination!

We've had this discussion....

My boss/professor wants me to go to UNC, actually. His adviser teaches there and he wants to send me to him. Also, my brother is going to go to Duke for his PhD (probably in history, politics, or economics), which is more reason for me to go somewhere in NC.

[Mizango]

DESTINY!

[Kryssan]

UNC and Duke. Eww x2.



Then again I'm just a biased former wolfpack, so what would I know?

[Restrat]

UT(Austin) for cell bio/molecular/biochem/microbio get 26k + benefits. If your PI gets a lot of money they often give their students more too.

[Mizango]

UNC and Duke. Eww x2.

Then again I'm just a biased former wolfpack, so what would I know?

NC State represent! Im a Gamecock so I cant really talk, loldook all the way though.

[Quicklet]

I'd say 20k-25k/yr is average on top of tuition support. Part of it depends on geography, I think a lot of northeastern schools provide more because of a higher cost of living. If you're lucky enough to grab a fellowship those can reach as high as 30k/yr. Highest I've ever seen is the DOE Grad Fellowship (3 years, 40k/yr stipend + 10k/yr for tuition) but there aren't too many of those to go around.

[Woozie]

UT(Austin) for cell bio/molecular/biochem/microbio get 26k + benefits. If your PI gets a lot of money they often give their students more too.

Holy crap, screw physics, I'm going to Texas to study cells and stuff.

I'd say 20k-25k/yr is average on top of tuition support. Part of it depends on geography, I think a lot of northeastern schools provide more because of a higher cost of living. If you're lucky enough to grab a fellowship those can reach as high as 30k/yr. Highest I've ever seen is the DOE Grad Fellowship (3 years, 40k/yr stipend + 10k/yr for tuition) but there aren't too many of those to go around.

Based on what my professors tell me, fellowships are nearly impossible to get D:

[Restrat]

you really have to pay attention to how schools phrase it. Many will say "all students are guaranteed financial support for their stay" but some will say "Students are supported through a variety of means, including TA and fellowships," meaning your professor moves or loses a grant and your funding is gone. Also, if you get into somewhere that pays high, you can ask the school you want to go to if there are any "special fellowships" you can get... they usually have a couple they can give to someone to "make moving easier" or something

[Ferion]

When my brother was applying to schools for his Phd I think he said it seemed like the hard sciences/math/econ averaged around a 20-25k stipend depending on where you applied, he mostly was looking to go some where in the north east though. He ended up going to Albert Einstein in New York City for bio, where he's getting around 28k before taxes. They also provide him with an apartment for $500 a month with utilities, he has to split it with two other people but it's really nice for the money he's paying.

[joft]

almost any school you could apply to will fund you well enough to get by. some places it will seem like little ($13k?) but those places will usually have lower cost of living. In NJ, my school pays math TAs (and afaik everyone they accept will get a TA or something) about $24k, but rent here is usually around $900-1000 for a 1 br apartment.

fellowships are not impossible to get, my school gave me one and I didn't even apply for anything. also, judging only from my undergrad institution, I was the weakest student they accepted in my year so I don't know why they gave me the fellowship (I think it might be based on financial need, and maybe my math GRE score was high enough to make them ignore my undergrad, I dunno).

some fellowships are extremely competitive (NSF) and your professors are probably right about those. but there are others which are less well-known and less competitive that you have to find, and schools you apply to might have their own in-school fellowships.

the only suggestion I have that nobody else has mentioned so far: when choosing schools, contact current grad students at those schools and ask them questions. find out what their TA duties are like. find out what the atmosphere at the school is like. department websites are almost completely useless in this respect because they don't convey any impression about what it's like to be there. and that can be a main determinant of your happiness as a grad student and, therefore, a main determinant of your success as well.

for example, you might find out from a student at school X that the department mostly treats grad students as cheap labor to teach their massive number of remedial math classes or sections of calculus (I dunno what physics students do). unfortunately, this tends to be the case at most public universities if I'm not mistaken. if I could have done one thing differently when I was applying, I would have concentrated more on private schools.