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[a_salika]

Hello there,

In a couple of previous threads, people here were talking about how to negotiate with one's top choice school to get a better package. Perhaps someone here can offer advice as to how and if I can do this in the humanities. Thus far, I've received offers from my three top choices as well as one lower down on my list. School #2 and #3 have offered me very comfortable funding packages.

School #2 is offering me a university-wide fellowship that offers $19.5K in a cheap town plus lots of other funding for travel, training, conferences, etc..

School #3 is offering me a comfortable $15K plus other funding and is also in a cheap town.

School #1 is next to school #3, I've been waiting to hear about the funding package, but nothing yet. I imagine that being a public school, while the two others are private, School #1 will be offering me a lower package then the other well-endowed private schools. School #1 knows that I have an offer from School #3 but not from School #3, could this help my funding package increase?

With these other attractive offers from other schools, how can I approach School #1 to negotiate the package and who at the university or in the department should I do this through?

Thanks

[eriro]

I don't know how, but definitely NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE!!!!!!  I was thrilled with my package when I was accepted, but didn't take into account the vagaries of Life.  My husband couldn't find a job in his field and so ended up working as a prep cook in a restaurant.  We were typical post-college students with student loan and credit card debt, plus a car payment that I had taken on when I had a real job.  Also, health insurance is expensive, but you need it, because medical bills are more expensive.  Keep in mind also that your package will most likely be taxed, and there will be fees you have to pay.  All of this will reduce your take-home income.  Unless you are single, have absolutely no debt, and find a roommate and cheap apartment, I don't know how you're going to get by on anything less than $18k/yr, even in a really cheap town.  Plan on taking out student loans also (or begging your parents for handouts).  The poor-grad-student lifestyle gets really old really fast.


That said, you do need to go to a program that will get you where you want to go in life and one where you are happy with the intellectual/social atmosphere.  Moderate student-loan debt can be good for building up your credit over the long run, especially if your program will help you land a good job.  Good luck!

[leopard]

Maybe it's different in the sciences, but most funding packages I know about (in the humanities/social sciences) are set. Or maybe there's lots of behind the scenes bargaining that I'm unaware of, and thus people are getting more than they let on.

At my current school, funding levels are set by the union and the graduate school follows suit with fellowships to maintain parity. I know some departments (in the sciences) bump up the stipends, but to the best of my knowledge, that's a uniform raise. Likewise, at the school at which I did my MA (a well-endowed private university), the tuition remission/stipend/health insurance package was set -- they only take who they can fund and everyone gets the same amount.

I'm presently living on less than 18K in a moderately priced town, so it is possible. While I'm single, the people I know who are partnered without kids are better off, since their housing costs per person are less than mine (this assumes the partner is also a student or has a job).

Best of luck negotiating!

[pikachu]

Negotiating special/extra funding for grad school admissions is unheard of in most fields, regardless of the quality of the student. So make sure this is the norm in your field, otherwise it will look really bad.

[iomhaigh]

Much of the negotiation discussion on these boards is centered around job offers. 

I've never heard of anyone negotiating grad stipends, fwiw.  Usually they are set by the school.  Sometimes you can compete for additional funding, but the base salary is often the base salary. 

[johnr]

Much of the negotiation discussion on these boards is centered around job offers. 

I've never heard of anyone negotiating grad stipends, fwiw.  Usually they are set by the school.  Sometimes you can compete for additional funding, but the base salary is often the base salary. 

I'm glad that someone finally brought this up (iomhaigh and pickachu). I think that the OP is confusing a teaching job offer with an acceptance into graduate school.  It would be very odd (and presumptuous) for a prospective graduate student to try and negotiate for a better offer.  First of all, most assistantships are set in stone, every graduate student gets the same (at least within departments).  Second of all, we have far more qualified students applying for positions than we have openings, so our only option would be to move on to the next candidate (since we don't have the ability to negotiate).

[sciencephd]

As most of the other posters said, I've never heard of negotiating a graduate school stipend in the sciences. ever.  I don't reccommend trying.

[red_queen]

I haven't heard of negotiating grad school funding either. Usually the amount of the funding offer is set by the department, institution, or union (if there is one), and it's take or leave.  OP, what are we missing? Has anything led you to believe this is a possibility at these places? Or is this a hope and a prayer?

[a_salika]

I don't know how, but definitely NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE!!!!!!  I was thrilled with my package when I was accepted, but didn't take into account the vagaries of Life.  My husband couldn't find a job in his field and so ended up working as a prep cook in a restaurant.  We were typical post-college students with student loan and credit card debt, plus a car payment that I had taken on when I had a real job.  Also, health insurance is expensive, but you need it, because medical bills are more expensive.  Keep in mind also that your package will most likely be taxed, and there will be fees you have to pay.  All of this will reduce your take-home income.  Unless you are single, have absolutely no debt, and find a roommate and cheap apartment, I don't know how you're going to get by on anything less than $18k/yr, even in a really cheap town.  Plan on taking out student loans also (or begging your parents for handouts).  The poor-grad-student lifestyle gets really old really fast.


That said, you do need to go to a program that will get you where you want to go in life and one where you are happy with the intellectual/social atmosphere.  Moderate student-loan debt can be good for building up your credit over the long run, especially if your program will help you land a good job.  Good luck!

Thanks for your reply, my husband will be working, but as a language professor in my university with only a MA, so he will be an adjunct professor and get peanuts. With our money pooled together, I imagine our yearly income (pre-taxes) would be around $35K. For me, this is a lot of money as I know how to live off less than $1,000/month. I already have enough student loan from my MA program, so I am interested in loans. I am curious why you weren't able to live off $18K a year, I know that I could. My loans are all subsidized so I don't have to pay them pack until I graduate, I don't have a car or have credit card debts. I plan on biking/walking or taking public transportation to school and to cook at home a lot. I grew up wearing clothes from thrift stores and traveling in youth hostels so I know how to watch my spendings, but I'm curious as to what kind of purchases you made that made your yearly spendings more than $18K.

Also, regarding my question about negotiating for better funding packages, I got the idea that it was OK from this forum thread:
http://forum.thegradcafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=198

Thanks

[stanwyck]

hostels so I know how to watch my spendings, but I'm curious as to what kind of purchases you made that made your yearly spendings more than $18K.

Conference registration fees.  Airfare.  Books.  Travel for research.  Photocopies.  Summer health insurance.  Prescriptions.  Four gallons of coffee/day.

I'm lucky in that most of my conference fees are reimbursed by the grad college/department (as long as I'm presenting a paper).  I have one expensive conference a year that is obligatory to attend, but I won't present at for at least two years.  That's a major expense.  In addition, I've done a lot of travel to regional archives that hasn't been reimbursed, as well as two out of country trips that were mostly, but not entirely, reimbursed.  $25 here and there adds up pretty quickly.  I made the mistake of contracting a serious illness last year, that ate into the budget unbelievably quickly.

Some of this I'm going to be getting back on my taxes, but in the meantime, I had to pay up front.  If I was living in a major metropolitan area, rent alone would eat up the majority of that $18,000.

Don't even ask me what I spent on books last year.

[stanwyck]

p.s. I've never heard of anyone negotiating the fellowship/T.A. award, either.  I imagine there was some room for increasing/decreasing the fellowship amounts in my department, but the T.A. stipend is set by the union.  And as far as I know, everyone in my incoming class received the same fellowship amount (that changed in the second year, though).  I've heard of people calling a school and saying, "Hey, I've heard from schools 2 and 3, do you think you could let me know soon about your decision?" but that's about it.

[grasshopper]

I've never heard of anyone negotiating the fellowship/T.A. award, either.

I've heard of one person negotiating with one school about an entrance scholarship stipend, but this was in the first year of that school's grad program. And while the dept did actually communicate back and forth with him about this, in the end it didn't amount to anything and he didn't get a bigger offer. The reason given was that the dept was only able to offer so much per student, etc.

I heard this from the student himself. Now that I've been around grad programs, I suspect that his contact in the dept was only being polite, and that if he had played hardball, they would have just told him that they would wait for his official refusal of the admissions offer before offering his spot to someone else.

[pamplemoose]

My advisers have told me to negotiate.  At some schools, funding levels are *not* equal across a cohort.

But I suppose it depends on the school.

[dr_strangelove]

My question to the OP would be: what is the length of time for these offers? One year? Two years? ... ? What happens when your funding runs out? How do graduate students in these programs fund their entire stay in graduate school? Figuring out how you'll pay for the entire program without accumulating significant debt seems like the most critical thing to me.

[sciencephd]

I hope OP will post the results of the negotiations.