<p>This is a question I intend to ask my interviewers, but I figure I should try to have at least a basic understanding now rather than later of the situation as it applies to California graduate schools, particularly public institutions like Berkeley and UCSF.</p>
<p>Should California's financial woes influence my graduate school decisions? If they should, in what I assume can only be a negative way, it is unfortunate they clash with my hankering to experience West Coast living for once in my life!</p>
<p>graduate students aren’t taking courses that are expensive to run (i.e. like undergrad labs). All real expenses of educating a graduate student are carried by the faculty. Graduate coursework is often a collection of interactive seminars with some didactic lectures. The faculty are already being paid their salaries-most often a combination of university support and their own grant support. The faculty will need to raise the funds to pay the research costs of the student and probably the student’s stipend.</p>
<p>The critical aspect of graduate education is the apprenticeship with your PI, the research you are able to accomplish and the scientific conferences the PI can afford to send you to. Well-funded PIs are also better positioned to get graduate program training grants that provide various student resources.</p>
<p>As I understand it from reading news sources, the budgetary crisis affects mostly undergraduate education (the in-state tuition has gone up significantly) and mid- to lower-ranked graduate programs (where faculty funding may not be solid.) Some faculty members have left the system to go elsewhere; however, this is not likely to happen on a huge scale since universities across the country are struggling and may not be hiring at the usual rate. </p>
<p>You are correct that many universities guarantee five years of support given reasonable progress toward the degree – that money comes from outside grants and PI funding, but failing those, from the university – and that a UC school might not be able to promise right now. As ParAlum points out, however, a well-funded PI is your best bet. The problem is, as an entering student, you don’t know whose lab you will eventually join. </p>
<p>My gut feeling is that the best programs will stay strong. Their strongest resource is not the university itself but the people, both faculty and students. My D applied (but did not get invited) to UCSD because she figured that the faculty was top-notch and that they would carry the program. She ruled out a lesser UC neuroscience program because she felt that was riskier. I thought that was a smart strategy. </p>
<p>You should ask the question, and you should gauge the reactions to get a better sense of the situation. I’m sure they will get that question from 90% of interviewees.</p>
<p>The question was posed in a broad manner and should be answered as such. Not in a narrow specific major manner or the question should be asked pertaining to a specific major area. In general there is less cheddar available to fund graduate study in California. In many of the science and engineering areas increased Federal funding will help.</p>
<p>Talked to my advisor today, and she made the point that, since PIs are federally funded, professors at California schools themselves will not generally face shortcomings in the ability to financially provide for their students.</p>
<p>This is for biology-related fields, anyway.</p>
<p>So far, I don’t think the cost of living has changed much. It certainly hasn’t become cheaper to live here, if that’s what you were hoping. Food is high, rents are high, gasoline is expensive and most people need to drive.</p>
<p>No, if anything, I thought it would become more expensive to increase government cash flow. That’s probably something I just assumed given the UC tuition spike.</p>
<p>Cost of living has been pretty stable since things went south a year or two ago. Gas prices have been pretty stable around $3 a gallon, food hasn’t moved a whole lot in price (though I have noticed a few fruits/veggies being more pricy), and rent has gone down a little. I got my current one bedroom apartment for $1200 a month which is probably about $100-$200 off the usual price. Unfortunately, my income is fixed until I graduate, so if the economy recovers and my landlord decides they can make more money by raising our rent I’d have to be moving. :(</p>
<p>I understand that professors at UC’s in particular are in danger of being poached away. The lab that I would have joined at UCLA if I had gone ended up moving the fall semester that I would have started. That is definitely one thing that might affect graduate students; even if your lab doesn’t move, potential collaborators and other people who bring in funding, students, etc. could leave.</p>
<p>I’m a grad student in the biosciences at Berkeley (MCB), and we actually just found out that our stipend has increased by $1000 for next year. We were pretty surprised by this- I was expecting it to remain the same or even decrease- but I think it speaks to the security of funding for the sciences. Most funding comes from the national level (NIH, NSF, etc) so while our program has had to make some cuts due to a loss of UC funding (which has most noticeably affected the presence of free food at events), none of the labs are hurting for cash. I pay $1100 a month for an apartment and have plenty of money to eat something other than ramen, splurge once in awhile, and still save some every month. I’m actually hoping that the economy will aid me in negotiating cheaper rent once my lease expires this year.</p>
<p>Heh, one of my good friends decided to live out of his office and subsisted mostly off of free lunches and dinners offered by various organizations around campus. Probably wouldn’t have been having as much luck with that at a UC. :p</p>