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?
Showing posts with label income. Show all posts
Showing posts with label income. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Work Study
I had always assumed that federal work study money was only for undergrads. I always thought it was just a way to subsidize on-campus jobs. For example, a student whose family income is low enough for her to qualify for work study gets a job working in a lab (or the library, or cafeteria, or wherever) that pays say, $6/hour. The employer only has to pay something like $1.50 of that and the federal work study program pays the rest (at least, I think that's how it works).
But did you know you can get work study money as a grad student?
I personally have not applied for work study funds, but a number of my friends have. They submitted the FAFSA like you would as an undergrad. Since the total income from a grad stipend is low, they generally qualify for work study funds. My department handles this money by applying it to TA stipends. TAs in my department typically teach two lab sections for a 50% appointment. The department applies the work study money to half of the appointment. The TA ends up teaching just one section but receives the full stipend! It saves the department money and lightens the workload for the grad student.
This is my second-hand account of how it works at my school. Have any of you benefited from work study as grad students? How did it work for you?
But did you know you can get work study money as a grad student?
I personally have not applied for work study funds, but a number of my friends have. They submitted the FAFSA like you would as an undergrad. Since the total income from a grad stipend is low, they generally qualify for work study funds. My department handles this money by applying it to TA stipends. TAs in my department typically teach two lab sections for a 50% appointment. The department applies the work study money to half of the appointment. The TA ends up teaching just one section but receives the full stipend! It saves the department money and lightens the workload for the grad student.
This is my second-hand account of how it works at my school. Have any of you benefited from work study as grad students? How did it work for you?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How’s this for crap?
Students in my program are “guaranteed” funding for “five years”. Basically, the department will give students a stipend and tuition waiver for TAing. (Most students will drop TAing like a stone if they can get a fellowship or their advisor has grant money to give them an RA (either for hourly work on the advisor’s projects or for work on the student’s thesis research)). However, this doesn’t necessarily include summers. For the most part, students who have needed summer funding have gotten it, but there’s always some drama in April while it gets sorted out.
This year, the summer schedule changed. They added a second session and it really jacked up the TAships. I don’t know if there were fewer TAs needed or if there were more students wanting to TA than usual, but the result was that there were more students than TA positions. Some people didn’t get TAships. Some of those were international students who aren’t allowed to work outside the university. That’s crappy.
Neither EGM nor I have had to worry about this much because we’ve had other funding. This year, though, EGM is on the department’s dime. There was all this confusion about summer pay – how much it would be and when they would get it. EGM finally found out about 6-8 weeks ago that there would be no paycheck in June. The July and August ones will be bigger than usual, so it’s not so bad. But rent is still due each and every month whether they decide to pay us that often or not. He saved what he could to prepare, but seriously, how many people could come up with a month’s worth of expenses on 6 weeks’ notice even if they were paid well?
Sigh…We’ll manage, hopefully without EGM incurring too much debt. It’s sad to dip into that savings I’ve been working so hard to accumulate for something so not fun. Still, I guess this is the kind of thing you save for and I should be glad I can help him out instead of either of us building new credit card debt. It’s just so crappy that our pay is lousy and unreliable.
I’m sorry if this post seems insensitive to readers in humanities departments who get a raw deal compared to science students. FWIW, my university is starting to rectify this by getting a grad student union.
This year, the summer schedule changed. They added a second session and it really jacked up the TAships. I don’t know if there were fewer TAs needed or if there were more students wanting to TA than usual, but the result was that there were more students than TA positions. Some people didn’t get TAships. Some of those were international students who aren’t allowed to work outside the university. That’s crappy.
Neither EGM nor I have had to worry about this much because we’ve had other funding. This year, though, EGM is on the department’s dime. There was all this confusion about summer pay – how much it would be and when they would get it. EGM finally found out about 6-8 weeks ago that there would be no paycheck in June. The July and August ones will be bigger than usual, so it’s not so bad. But rent is still due each and every month whether they decide to pay us that often or not. He saved what he could to prepare, but seriously, how many people could come up with a month’s worth of expenses on 6 weeks’ notice even if they were paid well?
Sigh…We’ll manage, hopefully without EGM incurring too much debt. It’s sad to dip into that savings I’ve been working so hard to accumulate for something so not fun. Still, I guess this is the kind of thing you save for and I should be glad I can help him out instead of either of us building new credit card debt. It’s just so crappy that our pay is lousy and unreliable.
I’m sorry if this post seems insensitive to readers in humanities departments who get a raw deal compared to science students. FWIW, my university is starting to rectify this by getting a grad student union.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
On Supplementing One's Income
Let's face it. A lot of us require a second (or first!) job to help us make ends meet in graduate school. Some people rely on these jobs for all of their primary expenses while others use these jobs to pay for the miscellaneous extras. But are there jobs that pay well without requiring 40+ hours a week?
Too often, I feel like people settle for less than they are worth when it comes to supplemental jobs. A friend of mine has worked at a fast-food restaurant where she makes minimum wage. Unless you're working at Starbucks to take advantage of their benefits, I strongly encourage you to look into these more lucrative positions.
* Tutoring with a reputable agency. We're academics and darn proud of it. Generally you can make $20-30/hr with tutoring. I have found it best to go through a reputable company so you do not need to screen potential students yourself. There is also a substantial niche if you have high standardized test scores. Among the places to look: Sylvan, Kaplan, Princeton Review, Huntington, etc.
* Mother's helper. If you are into kids, this can be a good way to go. Generally, moms know what they would like you to do and will pay you well for it. A going pay rate depending on location is $12-20/hr but some people can do better than that by not bringing it up. Let the mom decide.
* Freelance internet tasks. If you are proficient in web programming or graphic design, then it can be possible to work by the piece for various web development firms. These sort of tasks work on your schedule but require some know-how.
Other thoughts?
Too often, I feel like people settle for less than they are worth when it comes to supplemental jobs. A friend of mine has worked at a fast-food restaurant where she makes minimum wage. Unless you're working at Starbucks to take advantage of their benefits, I strongly encourage you to look into these more lucrative positions.
* Tutoring with a reputable agency. We're academics and darn proud of it. Generally you can make $20-30/hr with tutoring. I have found it best to go through a reputable company so you do not need to screen potential students yourself. There is also a substantial niche if you have high standardized test scores. Among the places to look: Sylvan, Kaplan, Princeton Review, Huntington, etc.
* Mother's helper. If you are into kids, this can be a good way to go. Generally, moms know what they would like you to do and will pay you well for it. A going pay rate depending on location is $12-20/hr but some people can do better than that by not bringing it up. Let the mom decide.
* Freelance internet tasks. If you are proficient in web programming or graphic design, then it can be possible to work by the piece for various web development firms. These sort of tasks work on your schedule but require some know-how.
Other thoughts?
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