With all of the dire news about the state of the U.S. and world economies, I'm wondering how the academic readers of this blog are feeling the effects. How is it affecting you, your department, or your institution? How are you dealing with it?
If you're not really feeling the effects yet, what do you think might happen? Will you lose research funds? Ability to fill positions that lighten your load?
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8 comments:
As a grad student, it's had a pretty dire effect. My university is enacting huge budget cuts, and teaching opportunities for grad students is a pretty easy way to cut a bunch of money. So, I'm out of a job, at least for next semester.
I'm applying for PhD programs for next year. I worry about getting in, and receiving funding if I am admitted. Student loans (now at $50,000+ in our 2-person household) are not an option.
Anonymous, I'm surprised to hear that teaching assistantships are being cut. Don't they need TAs to teach all of the tuition-paying undergrads? How does that work?
S., have you contacted any of the grad students at the schools you're applying to ask for the inside scoop? Also, IGERT or other NSF-funded programs might be more of a sure thing for the next few years.
It hasn't quite hit me yet - in fact, I've been a little relieved by the lowered gas prices. I'm definitely not eating out as much though, and trying to stick a little more in savings...
I'm pretty sure that at most universities, undergrad tuition doesn't come close to covering the costs of educating an undergrad. That's why they need faculty to get grants that bring in lots of overhead. So yeah, some departments might have to make due with fewer TAs. I'm not quite sure, but I think TAs are pretty expensive, especially compared with adjuncts. Does anyone else know?
I'm pretty worried about getting a post doc next year, actually. I'm thinking that some proposals that would have had money for a post doc may not get funded because of budget cuts. Or, there may be faculty hiring freezes or fewer new faculty lines, meaning that people who are in post doc positions now won't be able to get jobs and thus won't vacate those post doc positions.
I'm seeing lots of ads now, but I'm just not ready yet. I'm worried I"m missing my chance.
EGF, it seems crazy to me that TAs would be more expensive than adjuncts, but come to think of it you might be right based on some of the stuff I've heard from the non-TT profs at my school who teach the intro classes.
It seems then that how the higher education system fares depends largely on how much funding goes to NSF and NIH during this crisis. I wish some people who aren't grad students and know a little more about university budgets would jump in (I'm not going to let myself get sucked into researching this).
There's the tuition waiver and health insurance that come from somewhere -- might or might not be included in the total cost of the TA line. Also, adjuncts don't get paid very well. I think they might get paid less than TAs in my department.
We should ask DeanDad about this!
In case someone is actually still following this thread, The Clutter Museum just had a good post about how universities are dealing with budget cuts. http://cluttermuseum.blogspot.com/2008/12/academic-caste-system-in-age-of-budget.html
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