PhD Financing 101 (or, what I wish I knew then…)

Continuing the theme of my last post, and in the spirit of the beginning of tax season, today I’m thinking about doctoral study funding and finances. I am not a financial expert and, as with many first gen students, I have muddled my way into understanding the whys and wherefores of money. Here are my top three financial lessons I wish I knew walking into my doctoral traineeship…

Photo by Ahmed Badawy on Unsplash

Lesson 1: Walk in with your financial eyes wide open

When I began my doctoral training, I had little idea what I was in for with regard to finances. I’d secured a 9-month graduate assistantship with an approximate $18,000 stipend (in 2019 this amount equaled 150% of the 2019 federal poverty level). I was pretty proud of this. I knew that living in Knowxville would be substantially cheaper than living in Boston (my home for the 11 years prior to doctoral training). According to payscale.com, a person who lives on a $50,000 annual income in Boston, MA would only need to make $27,721 to maintain their current standard of living in Knoxville, TN. I knew I’d be living in a lower standard of living as a student, but I didn’t fully comprehend the gap between my Boston standard of living and an $18k annual stipend. Understanding how far your doctoral salary will go in your new city/state of residence is important for any new doctoral trainee. Consider using sites like payscale.com or nerdwallet.com to calculate cost of living differences.

My graduate assistantship was a stable appointment, meaning that the salary wouldn’t go up or down during my time in training. Prior to matriculating to my program, I was nominated for a fellowship that added $20,000 to my income. Fantastic, I thought! I’d apply for fellowships annually to supplement my income. It couldn’t be that difficult…. When it came time to apply for 2nd year funding, I learned that most large fellowships at my institution were only available for trainees in their first and dissertation years. Oops. I was able to apply for a merit-based scholarship, which added approximately $6,000 to my Year 2 income. Still, it wasn’t what I’d initially anticipated.

Lesson 1: Before choosing a program, be sure you understand how much you will be awarded in stipends each year, and which fellowships and scholarships are available to you each training year. Will you have enough money to live on without securing fellowships or scholarships? Are you willing to take out loans or work a side hustle? Walk in with your eyes wide open, and with ALL.THE.DATA. on the financial resources available to you across the anticipated duration of your training.

Lesson 2: Manage your side hustle

During the course of my doctoral training, I ended up taking on a few different side hustles to supplement my income. These included extra grading and ad hoc research assistant positions. Thankfully, (1) there were a few faculty in my department with grants and other funding sources that allowed me to take on additional hourly work and (2) my Faculty Advisor and Department Chair both supported my decision to work above-and-beyond the graduate assistantship and coursework. Note: Attitudes toward side hustling can differ across institutions, colleges, and departments, so be sure that yours will support you. Ask current trainees about their experiences; it will give you insight into department expectations.

Photo by Mitya Ivanov via Unsplash

I was lucky that I could keep my side hustle within the university, which streamlined my life AND my paperwork come tax season. However, I’ve had colleagues who’ve pieced together tutoring, consulting, fitness coaching, petsitting, part-time food service gigs, Lyft/Uber driving, etc. while attending graduate school. My advice? Try to split your time between institutions as little as possible. Throughout my Master’s programs and while working full-time prior to beginning doctoral training, I was the Side Hustle Queen. I was an adjunct professor. I consulted on curriculum development and evaluation. I walked dogs. Baseline? I was EXHAUSTED.

While doctoral training, plus graduate assistantship, plus side hustling didn’t result in the most-energized-me, taking on work that I could complete in my school or home office helped keep me sane. Less running around between jobs meant that I could fit in a walk with my dog, a swim, or time to cook dinner. These moments were just was essential to doctoral training as was reading, writing, studying, researching, and publishing.

Lesson 2: Doctoral students are not computers. We can’t keep crunching out data without refueling our systems. Managing my side hustle (i.e., controlling the what, when, and where of my extra paid work), including limiting extra work to one location, allowed me to add to my bottom line AND retain sanity.

Lesson 3. Plan for summer (and life)

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon via Unsplash

As aforementioned, my graduate assistantship was for a 9-month appointment, which meant I only had to work for the academic Fall and Spring semesters to meet funding requirements. Yet, even the academy, there are 12 months in a calendar year. Hint: This means there are 12 months of bills to be paid. My college paid out 9-month appointments over 12-months, which was helpful in that I did not have to put funding from my stipend aside each month to cover summer costs. However, I did have to budget money from my fellowships and scholarships (paid out once a semester) and from side hustling (pay schedule dependent on available work).

In 4 summers, I erred only once. However, this err was large enough to put me $1000 in limbo. I’d been away at a summer traineeship in D.C. where I’d stuck to my budget diligently. However, I also moved to a new apartment that summer (read: I’d paid out unanticipated moving costs as well as first and last months rent) and I was paying off medical bills from an unexpected ER visit and surgery that previous fall.  It was also my first solo apartment as a doctoral trainee, which put me in charge of the full rent, insurance, and utility bills. Somewhere, in the midst of illness, moving, and my out-of-state traineeship, I underestimated the funding I needed to make it through August. Thankfully, my parents were able to extend me a loan for the month, and I did not miss any bills. After that experience, I began sinking more money into savings. “More” was relative. I still had barely enough money saved to rent a moving van upon graduating, but it was something.

Lesson 3. Plan plan plan for summer (and life). If you’re on a 9-month appointment, make sure you have enough money to cover 12 months of bills. As best as possible, plan for unanticipated events (like illness or moving). Even if it’s $50/month, try to put something significant away in a savings account. You never know when unanticipated costs (or accounting errors) will arise. 

A great resource I discovered after doctoral training, but thankfully before postdoc, is Personal Finance for PhDs. This is not a sponsored recommendation; simply a resource I’ve used myself. That said, I feel that PFF PhDs is a GO.TO.NOW. for soon-to-be, new, or seasoned doctoral and postdoctoral trainees who are seeking to get their financial legs underneath them. The website boasts a regular podcast (transcripts also available) that highlights the “how to” of personal finance via the stories of fellow PhDs/postdocs paired with finance (and related) facts. Readers can also sign up for a weekly listserv, download free financial resources, and pursue low-cost financial coaching. PFF PhDs was founded by a fellow (former) graduate student, Emily Roberts, who earned a PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke University in 2014.

Why I recommend: By the time we’re headed to graduate school (or beyond) few of us have all the financial know how that we wish we knew, or that we need to know, to manage our financial negotiations, budgets, savings, and taxes. The content presented on PFF PhDs is easy to understand and covers the money basics that all trainees need to know. It’s a great place to start learning about funding and finances. Good luck, y’all!