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[bemused_befuddled]

Ooops, last sentence came out muddled--anyways, watch your back and good luck! :)

[holden1]

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. I'm contacting the head of the department tomorrow, so we'll see what he says. But if I can't even squeeze some sort of tuition waiver out of him, I'll have to really think hard about this.

Much obliged for all of the input.

[miromad]

Second, I am a little surprised that a top 10 program doesn't fund all its students, but my field isn't poli sci and I don't know if that is common. It might be that they expect many/most students to pay tuition in the first year or two, but you are "on deck" for a TA/GA ship, etc.  I suggest you ask about that.

I'm with zharkov on this one.  In my field, the top programs fund all their students.  Sure, there may be different degrees of funding, but most make a policy of not accepting anyone they cannot fund.  I'd be very wary of accepting an offer without funding.  PhD programs are a 4-7+ year commitment and that's a long time to deal with financial uncertainty and high tuition bills.  Though I'm not in your field, I attended a school with a top 10 Poli Sci program and made friends with several people from that Dept.  They were all exceedingly well funded--in fact, their packages made mine look pathetic.  And even from this top program, several struggled to find that first job.    Just go into it with your eyes wide open to the struggles of the academic market.

[curly]

Hmm...

I think no.  If the program can't fund you in some way, at least a little, it exhibits little commitment to you and your academic potential.  It may need students and thus have admitted you.

I do not suggest that you are an inferior scholar.  Instead, I suggest that the non-funding program is investing elsewhere.  Down the line this is dangerous.  You were not among their first choices and they will probably indicate that when it comes to crunch time - i.e. looking for a job.

If you can, I would suggest a year of working in some campaign or another (great year to do it!) and re-apply next year.  Maybe with such experience you will be the person that they choose to fund wholeheartedly.   I don't know, but what does a year matter?  You got in now, and you'll get in later.  Bide your time and get the program to want you more than it does now.

Your prospects, once you get the Ph.D., as I'm sure you know, are limited. 

Think about that, too. 

Why defer compensation to get an unfunded degree when you will likely earn more without that degree?

Tough q. 

My best to you.  This isn't easy.

[carebearstare]

Another aspect to throw into the mix:

In my program (not poli sci, but interdisciplinary humanities/social science with decent job prospects after graduation), the students who were not funded when they came in took twice as long to complete their degrees as the students who came in with full funding. This was because they were usually working full time or adjuncting like crazy to make ends meet, in addition to taking on a lot of debt. So not only are you looking at more financial stress, but also stretched across a long period of time. And in my department, there was a lot of hostility between the funded students and the non-funded students. It has been unpleasant at times for everyone.

I would tell anyone thinking of coming into my program without funding not to come.

[roysac]

This sounds suspiciously similar to my program (Top 10, Poli Sci, doesn't fund everyone), especially given the timing of the OP. I'm posting under a new handle to avoid outing myself under my regular name. I will write this under the assumption that the OP is considering my program, although it might apply more generally.

If it is indeed my program (one of the UCs), I would recommend that you come if and only if you can comfortably afford out-of-state tuition for the first year/are willing to go into some debt, or if you're a California resident already (tuition is waived for all residents). A relatively large number of people in the current first-year cohort chose to come despite not getting funding. It's not something that is openly discussed among us grad students, but you can pretty easily figure out who is funded and who isn't. However, it doesn't make any difference at all (IME, at least) in terms of the attention one gets from the faculty or the social interaction among the grad students. So, I would not, as the OP puts it, "read this situation too negatively." Almost all of the students here (out of those doing coursework, anyway) are thriving, regardless of their funding status.

Also, every single one of those who needed it has managed to get reading or TAing positions for the first year, which not only pay but get most of your fees waived AND give you health insurance. If you have CA residency coming in, you only have to pay about $330 for the entire academic year. For the later years, even if you're not guaranteed a TAship coming in, you can pretty much expect to get one--there need for TAs, in this department and others that hire poli sci people, is (and has been for years) greater than the supply.

However, if you're not a CA resident, you'd still have to shell out the big bucks for tuition in the first year, even with a reader or TA position.  At my institution, that's about $15K a year. If you can afford it, I would most definitely consider it. Also, I don't know what your undergrad debt is like, if you have any. Given the staggering amounts of debt some people here are carrying, $15K doesn't not sound so huge. All of this is only worth it, of course, if the program is a good fit for you. From what I know, IR here is strong and getting stronger.

Our grad director recently said to me that if he were in the position between choosing a full ride at a school with less-bright future employment prospects and swinging it here for the first year (given that you're pretty much guaranteed TA work after that), he would still come here. I'm already here, so he wouldn't say that to lure me in. YMMV, of course, but I think the program might be worth scrambling to make tuition for the first year.

OP, if the identifying details have given away where I am and you'd like to know more specifics, PM me. My advice would be to not let the lack of funding cloud your impression of the program. If it's a good fit for you, and you're in a position to accept the one-year burden, I would say go for it.

[jonesey]

FWIW, I didn't pursue a Masters at USC because of cost and no aid (at the time, tuition alone would have run me about $50K).  Instead, I went to a school that no one has heard of for my Masters.  I had a good time, learned a lot...and wish, in hindsight, that I had just eaten the $50,000.  USC carries a LOT more weight than where I went. 

[topdog_underdog]

If this is a program in which you really would like to study, is there a possibility of funding elsewhere on campus?  You said you speak Spanish and Russian; are these departments looking for a TA/RA/GA in the fall.  Do you have some other skill that is useful?  I ask because there are other administrative departments on campus (at least on my campus) that offer GAs for work in their offices.  Just something to think about if you really want to attend that school.

[katherineparr]

IME, the situation at UCs is *exactly* as Roysac describes it.

OP, if you're not looking at a UC, then disregard. But if you are, what Roysac said is spot on.

[observer3]

So, just to complicate things...

I did my PhD without dept funding. I said yes to the school b/c I am from such a background that I had no idea anyone got funding. So I was quite surprised when I got there. I had loans and work study. No formal TAships for me, which also meant that it wasn't easy to get teaching experience. It was around half and half maybe, funded and non.

And guess what - years later a lot of us without funding did quite well on the job market and are publishing. Part of the reason is that we really wanted this (so self-selection) otherwise we wouldn't have done it. Part of it is b/c we had to be resourceful to get outside funding (many of us did), balance study with paid work, etc. So the requirements of a TT job seem pretty manageable after that. I would say on the whole we are doing pretty well. A few funded people also did well but a lot of them flamed out; they coasted on the funding and never got serious and later dropped out.

Just thought I would throw in another perspective. There are other fellowships available to fund grad study; you might want to do research on these before settling on a dissertation topic. And be enterprising generally. It may be that if you have to think too hard about this, you don't want it enough to try to do it without funding.

[pamplemoose]

Roysac, I assume at your program, there may also be extra funding available at the beginning of the year depending on yield.  I was accepted to a top poli sci program in the Cal system, and have been offered full funding.  However, I don't think I'll be accepting the offer.  Will that money go to another applicant or be thrown back in the pot?

At this particular program, I know of students who came in without funding (although they may have had tuition waivers--I'm unclear on that), but later received amazing government fellowships that far exceeded the stipends of the fully-funded students and precluded the need to TA.  Ever.  I'm not saying that is a typical case, but I think there are students in each cohort that came in with little or no funding, but were able to find money with a little bit of pluck and perseverance. 

Although I think getting a Ph.D with no funding is generally a bad idea, your top 10 Cal program may be an exception.  Definitely talk to whatever faculty you've been in contact with and the head of the department about the possibility of at least getting a tuition waver.  And when you visit, try and find other students who may have been in your boat (because there undoubtedly are at least a few).

Good luck!

[jonesey]

I was accepted to a top poli sci program in the Cal system, and have been offered full funding.  However, I don't think I'll be accepting the offer. 

Wow.  Why not?  It sounds like a great opportunity.  With funding!

[pamplemoose]

Got another offer I couldn't refuse :-)

[abbey25]

I attended a Top-3 department in my social science field at a prestigious public university.  I was admitted to the program without funding--just a note in the acceptance letter saying "you can anticipate receiving funding once you have established yourself here." 

So the first year I went into a small amount of debt to pay out of state tuition, but worked as an RA for a professor who took pity on my plight, and graded papers both semesters so I did not go very far into the red. All those positions came with partial tuition waivers and stipends.

My second year and third years, I taught each semester, including for programs outside of my home department.  By the second year I counted as an in-state resident, and received tuition waivers and stipends, and was able to make ends meet. 

In my fourth year I finally received a fellowship from the department, and was covered for the rest of my grad school career.  Meanwhile, my peers who had entered with Javitzes, Mellons, and multi-year fellowships with and without teaching responsibilities, were flaming out around me.  I was the first to finish my degree, despite all the teaching I had to do.

I now work at a high second-tier SLAC, in a subfield that averages 140 applicants per position, with about a dozen decent jobs available per year.

I did feel stigmatized by not being offered funding, despite my advisers' insistence that I should not take it personally. Everyone else in my sub-field had either external or internal fellowships coming in. The faculty were very supportive and helped me get TA-ships, etc.  My classmates, however, did look down upon me until I proved myself. 

I would only recommend this course of action if it is a public school, in which case the debt load accrued the first year would not be crippling.  I actually paid mine off within a year. 

If it's Berkeley or UCLA (or somewhere with similar ranking), I'd do it.

[pamplemoose]

Yeah, ditto.  If it's Berkeley, UCLA or UCSD and you're willing to hustle a bit, I'd do it.