Financial questions about Grad school

Graduate School
1

<p>I plan on getting into some grad school for Fall 2009. It most likely will not be in the same state I am living in (I live in NY and I don't think I'm getting into Columbia or NYU).</p>

<p>So I was hoping people could answer the following questions:</p>

<p>1) On average, how much money should I stow away so I can deal with all the moving costs, security deposits, books, etc. What were your average "startup costs" from when you packed your bags to when you actually moved in and became a graduate student?</p>

<p>I know this depends on where I will be moving to. I think anywhere outside of the Northeast is going to be expensive. I'm thinking about working the summer and trying to stow away $3000-$4000 for moving and all those expenses. </p>

<p>I am anticipating either staying on the East Coast or going all the way over to the West Coast.</p>

<p>2) Depending on where I will be living, I will need a car. I really do not want to live far away from the school and ideally I would like to be within a 30 minute walk or a 30 minute bus/train ride. How have you guys dealt with this? Do you guys have cars? Was your school close to your home? Did your city have a good metro system?</p>

<p>3) Did you feel that in general, your stipend was enough to cover everything? I don't plan on getting my own apartment, I will more than likely be sharing my apartment with other people or renting a room in someone's house. I figure I will be spending $500-$750 a month for rent + utilities. Am I way out of the ballpark with that figure? </p>

<p>I really am not an extravagant person and I definitely stay within my means and have good credit. </p>

<p>4) For math, some schools let their senior phd students, or the ones who passed their quals teach in the summer to get some more money. </p>

<p>Depending on the area, I have seen some really pricey rates for tutoring. I was wondering if I could supplement a good portion of my income by tutoring over the summers. Does anyone have experience doing this? I have seen some people advertise $100 an hour for certain types of tutoring. </p>

<p>Overall I am a little uneasy about the costs of going to grad school and wondering if I will be able to manage my budget. I don't have a car, and if I need to get a car, I'll more than likely not have that much money left over for moving expenses. </p>

<p>5) Did you guys increase your debt while you were in a fully funded PhD program? I really do not want to add to my debt. Not that I have a lot, but I just don't want to increase it any further.</p>

<p>OK, thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>@ SBUMathgrad</p>

<p>Where did you apply? Did you apply to any schools in the Midwest or South? I say this because standard of living costs are generally cheaper in the Midwest and South (Chicago is the exception). You may also want to apply for a personal expenses loan (I did it when I interned in Washington D.C. during the summer) just to help you get started so you won't fall behind. If the university provides student temporary employment and graduate student housing, take advantage of it quickly before spaces run out. If you live in a transit-friendly city like Chicago or Boston, you might not need a car and just register for Zipcar for temporary vehicle use.</p>

3

<p>I will be applying to UIUC, Northwestern, Michigan and maybe University of Illinois - Chicago for the midwest.</p>

<p>For the South, I will be applying to UT-Austin and Duke.</p>

<p>From what I understand, it's relatively cheap to live in Austin and around Duke, and same goes for Northwestern, UIUC or Michigan. I'm comparing this to living in NYC.</p>

<p>I guess I could take out a personal expenses loan, but how much would I be looking at? $2000? $3000?</p>

4

<p>The area around Northwestern is not cheap. Evanston is right next to Chicago and costs almost the same.</p>

<p>Your moving expenses will depend, in large part, on how much you are moving. Some people bring enough to fully furnish an apartment - that's more expensive. Some have enough to fit in a car or a small trailer - that's not nearly so much. Without a good idea of how much stuff you're taking with you, it's impossible to give you a ballpark number.</p>

<p>Lots of grad students have bikes - easier and faster than walking. Be aware of the weather in your area, though. If you can't take biking in rain/snow/ice (and many can't), you'll likely need a car unless you find a place that's really close to campus.</p>

5

<p>DeepSeekPhD is right. You need to provide us more information on how much you plan to bring. I lived in Chicago for four years and the housing costs are not on the cheap side. It may cost slightly less (depending on where you live in the city) than NYC. Evanston borders Lake Michigan and north side of Chicago, one of the more desirable areas. It's normal for an apartment in Evanston to average more than $1000/month for a studio or one-bedroom. If you are sharing with other people, that is an entirely different matter.</p>

6

<p>I plan on airmailing clothes, books, misc. stuff (CD's, DVDs, laptop, etc). So this I can get a discount on because I know people who work at those Fedex stores.</p>

<p>I do not plan on getting a studio apartment, I will more than likely share like a 3 bedroom or rent a room in someone's house. I'm also going to try to look for a place that is already furnished.</p>

<p>So all in all, I don't plan on bringing much as I don't have that many things to begin with. Hopefully I can find a room that is already furnished and I can just buy my own sheets, pillows, misc. room things that I need.</p>

<p>I am a minimalist. I don't have too many clothes, I think all of my clothes fit in a big suitcase. I'm bringing 2 laptops, a lot of books (20 math and physics books) that will be airmailed. </p>

<p>Yeah I meant more that Austin, Duke and Michigan were relatively cheap, and Northwestern, UIUC aren't as expensive as NYC but still pricey, especially NW.</p>

7

<p>UIUC is also very cheap, probably the cheapest of all the places you've listed.</p>

<p>If you aren't bringing furniture, it may be far cheaper to rent a van and drive all your stuff there than airmailing it. A friend of mine used ABF U-Pack for her move, and it was cheap.</p>

8

<p>ABF U Pack was incredible for my move across the country. They drop off the back end of an 18 wheeler on the street in front of your house and you fill it with your stuff from the cab side. When you are done, you put in the bulkhead to seperate your stuff from the commercial shipping that takes up whatever space you do not use. They charge you by the linear foot eg if you used 8 feet from the cab side, you pay 8X whatever the per foot charge is. Then you call ABF and they pick up the 18 wheeler, and use it to do commercial shipping and a week or two later, the back half of the 18 wheeler shows up at an address that you designate and you have about a week to get your stuff out before they pick it back up. The whole ordeal was easy to arrange, easy to load/unload and cheaper than any other option could have been. They also do PODS if you don't need the space that an 18 wheeler can provide.</p>

9

<p>You might want to look into shipping with USPS media mail for your textbooks. I shipped around 25-30 textbooks/large cookbooks through it, and it was relatively inexpensive. Just be sure to insure each package for its actual value, as the one I only insured for $200 was only held together by the tape I wrapped around the box by the time it arrived.</p>

<p>I think the biggest thing to find out is what the first month you start getting paid is. For example, I'm on university housing, and since our quarter starts October 1, I didn't get paid at all for the month of September, even though housing started my contract on September 1.</p>

<p>Flying should be a fairly predictable expense, though it might be worth your while to look at Southwest with extra interest since they currently don't charge for two checked bags (plus you can have a carry-on and a backpack crammed full of stuff).</p>

<p>You should ask your school if they have any sort of temporary loan program, as I know mine does since there's a lot of international grads that get here with little to no money and need some to help get themselves on their feet and comfortable in an apartment. And, since the school is the one also giving you your paycheck, they tend to be a little more generous with the repayment terms.</p>

10

<p>Wow, good advice and pointers from all you guys. I appreciate the advice!</p>

11

<p>For anyone who went to grad schools in smaller cities/towns: Is it necessary to own a car? I plan on living with roommates, but I'm not sure if where I live will be within walking distance of grocery stores or anything like that.</p>

12

<p>For what it's worth, I have a friend in Durham, NC that does not have a car and lives in a house full of people without cars. She seems to do just fine. I mean, a car is always helpful, but I'm sure you could make do without one without much trouble if you needed to.</p>