If he lives in the northern part of fulton county, in Georgia, and is a phd student of sociology in emory university?
I knew several married graduate students who lived on their student stipend, but their spouse also had income.
A graduate assistantship can support a single person but often you would need to have roommates who also are contributing to living expenses. But some international students arrive with nonworking spouses, so I guess it might be possible. Will your spouse not be working because of visa issues?
I presume my wife won’t be working at first because she lives in turkey and she’s going to have to get well adjusted before working…
One thing I have found by observing the answers to questions in graduate school forums across the net is that people can do pretty much anything during a PhD program if they’re willing to put in the work for it. The other day I saw someone ask if others thought she could work full-time and do a PhD while also raising a newborn. I had thought the answer would be something along the lines of “are you crazy?” but not only were people encouraging her, multiple people chimed in that they’d done it themselves or personally knew someone who did.
So the question is not whether or not it’s possible. It is, of course, especially in the Atlanta area which has a lower cost of living. The question is whether or not you are willing to live the way you’re going to live. It also depends on your stipend. I’m going to assume that your stipend is $25,000 to $30,000 a year, so around $2,000-2,500 a month of income.
I’m from DeKalb County, GA - I grew up about a 20-minute drive away from Emory, and I went to college in Atlanta as well. The northern part of Fulton County (including towns like Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Roswell, Sandy Springs) is one of the more expensive areas in metro Atlanta. You’d have a hard time finding a 1-bedroom apartment for less than around $1000-1200 a month. There are less expensive areas that are closer - Decatur is probably the closest and are nice, vibrant, semi-urban places. If you live in the cute/trendy part of Decatur you’ll almost pay what you’d pay in northern Fulton, but if you live closer to the outside of the perimeter (I-285), you’ll find muuuuuch cheaper apartments and you’ll be 5-10 minutes from Emory. You could rent a whole 3-bedroom house for under $1000 if you wanted in that part of Decatur. (North Druid Hills is also closer, but can get pretty pricy. But if you wanted to live in a fancy, leafy place like north Fulton, you might as well go straight to NDH and be closer to campus.
Or, if you are going to live in suburban Atlanta anyway, you may as well go to a closer and lower-cost town like Stone Mountain, Lithonia, Chamblee, or Tucker. You could find a nice 1-bedroom apartment with some luxury amenities for less than $700-800/month in Stone Mountain or Lithonia or Tucker. Stone Mountain is about a 10-15 minute drive from Emory depending on where you live; Lithonia’s about a 20-25 minute drive. (This is in no traffic.)
The problem of course is that you need access to a car. I would recommend having a car in Atlanta either way because the city is really made to be driven around, and public transit is not great. But if you were going to try to make it without a car, you really need to live in the city nearby a MARTA station, and that’s going to raise your rent. Still way cheaper than most other cities Atlanta’s size, though.
Anyway, if you can keep your housing expenses to less than $1,000 a month and you live frugally otherwise, then I think you and your wife can do it without a second income. It might not be the most fun and you may not save much, but it’s possible.
In my department’s doctoral program about half of our students are married and several of them have one or more children (seems to be a growing trend). I don’t suppose it’s easy financially, but the group is very supportive of each other.
Yes, if you are frugal. Check to see if Emory had graduate student housing for married couples and young families. This arrangement can often be cheaper than going off campus and usually reduces the need for a car.
I’m pretty sure the OP is still in high school or just graduated. Nice to think ahead, though.
I know many international PhD students who brought their nonworking spouses and live on their stipend. Doable, as long as you live very, very frugally, often in married student housing, and with just one car – but better yet, none at all.
My son-in-law is a full-tume doctoral student. While it might be possible for my D and son-in-law to get by on his stipend, it is much easier financially because my daughter works.
To answer the generic question posted in the title of this thread (rather than the OP’s more specific question of whether the specific Emory sociology student in question can do so), it is certainly possible for certain PhD students to support themselves and their spouses, and even their children, while in grad school. It all depends on not only how high the stipends are for your particular program, but also other fellowships that you can garner (and also whether your program will reduce your stipend on a dollar-for-dollar basis for every dollar of fellowship money you obtain), research prizes, and also whether you have marketable skills - whether developed by yourself or provided by your program - that allow you to generate ‘consulting fees’ on the side. For example, I can think of some PhD students specializing in finance who were almost certainly making well over 6 figures when you included their stipends, their NSF fellowships, research prizes, and - most importantly - the fact that they also spent time consulting for hedge funds and prop trading firms.