4 ms·

You paid to get your PhD? I thought that was pretty uncommon?

akiselev 12y ago
You usually get paid a stipend in the STEM fields, but it's probably well below minimum wage (we're talking the equivalent of $3-5/hour) with such a huge time commitment that earning money on the side is practically impossible. If you live in a city with a higher than average cost of living or you're just starting a family or have health problems (that university insurance can be pretty crappy as you transition from your parents' plan) you can very easily be forced to get student loans... Which you often can't discharge through bankruptcy even if not strictly used for tuition AFAIK. I'm not sure about the humanities but with the disproportionate amount of funding focused on STEM (relative to number of graduate students) I wouldnt be surprised if some people did have to pay to get their PhD.
- t__r 12y ago
  In Europe you get a salary for a PhD. It's not a lot but in most countries (especially western Europe) it's actually quite OK.
  - reuven 12y ago
    My PhD stipend (at Northwestern, a major private US university) was about $1200/month. That's enough for a single, unmarried, childless person who is sharing an apartment with one or more roommates. It was laughably low for someone like me, married with three children. Health care alone in the US was about $1200/month for my family. Rent was another $1200/month or so. Food cost us a few hundred a month. Not surprisingly, I ended up doing lots of consulting work during the PhD, something that I had to keep hidden from the program. My wife's earning potential was quite low, so this was the most economical way to do it, if not the most relaxing. An OK salary is very much relative to the person receiving it, as well as the city in which you are living. We were in Chicago, which is far less expensive than Boston or San Francisco. I can't imagine what we would have done there.
    - collyw 12y ago
      Of course, we should be paying more for people who have wife and kids. Forget meritocracy.
      - reuven 12y ago
        I'm actually not of the opinion that the stipend should be higher for married couples with children -- just that someone in that situation should understand that the PhD student's spouse will need to have a good, full-time job to cover expenses during the period of study. I do think that it was immoral for the PhD program to charge a fortune for my wife and children to get health insurance, but that is a reflection of the US health-insurance system as much as anything else. And things might well have changed since I was living in Chicago.
dluan 12y ago
Everyone pays somehow.
giaour 12y ago
PhD students almost always get a full tuition scholarship and a stipend around ~$25K. If PhD students had to pay their own way, there probably wouldn't be any.
- nhayden 12y ago
  Stipend probably depends a lot on the area of study. For the ones I've heard about (a lot) it's universally around $12k a year USD.

You usually get paid a stipend in the STEM fields, but it's probably well below minimum wage (we're talking the equivalent of $3-5/hour) with such a huge time commitment that earning money on the side is practically impossible. If you live in a city with a higher than average cost of living or you're just starting a family or have health problems (that university insurance can be pretty crappy as you transition from your parents' plan) you can very easily be forced to get student loans... Which you often can't discharge through bankruptcy even if not strictly used for tuition AFAIK. I'm not sure about the humanities but with the disproportionate amount of funding focused on STEM (relative to number of graduate students) I wouldnt be surprised if some people did have to pay to get their PhD.

t__r 12y ago
In Europe you get a salary for a PhD. It's not a lot but in most countries (especially western Europe) it's actually quite OK.
- reuven 12y ago
  My PhD stipend (at Northwestern, a major private US university) was about $1200/month. That's enough for a single, unmarried, childless person who is sharing an apartment with one or more roommates. It was laughably low for someone like me, married with three children. Health care alone in the US was about $1200/month for my family. Rent was another $1200/month or so. Food cost us a few hundred a month. Not surprisingly, I ended up doing lots of consulting work during the PhD, something that I had to keep hidden from the program. My wife's earning potential was quite low, so this was the most economical way to do it, if not the most relaxing. An OK salary is very much relative to the person receiving it, as well as the city in which you are living. We were in Chicago, which is far less expensive than Boston or San Francisco. I can't imagine what we would have done there.
  - collyw 12y ago
    Of course, we should be paying more for people who have wife and kids. Forget meritocracy.
    - reuven 12y ago
      I'm actually not of the opinion that the stipend should be higher for married couples with children -- just that someone in that situation should understand that the PhD student's spouse will need to have a good, full-time job to cover expenses during the period of study. I do think that it was immoral for the PhD program to charge a fortune for my wife and children to get health insurance, but that is a reflection of the US health-insurance system as much as anything else. And things might well have changed since I was living in Chicago.

dluan 12y ago

Everyone pays somehow.

giaour 12y ago

PhD students almost always get a full tuition scholarship and a stipend around ~$25K. If PhD students had to pay their own way, there probably wouldn't be any.

nhayden 12y ago
Stipend probably depends a lot on the area of study. For the ones I've heard about (a lot) it's universally around $12k a year USD.