<p>How do I compare a stipend given in $/month to the commonly seen figures of $/year? Do I multiply by 9 or 12 or what? This is a school on a typical two-semester system.</p>
<p>Your stipend should be paid 12 months a year. The summer is actually one of the best times of year to get work done since you won’t have to worry about TA duties or hordes of undergrads using machines.</p>
<p>Don’t guess - ask. Most of my own funding offers were for 9 months with additional summer funding available if necessary, but I certainly would not assume that as the norm. (Actually, if the total dollar amount and cost of living is the same, 9-month funding is preferable over 12-month funding because it leaves the possibility of getting extra income during the summer.) </p>
<p>If this is a concern, also inquire about pay schedules. For example, TAs at my university are paid bi-weekly while classes are in session; but they don’t get paychecks during breaks and the first paycheck doesn’t come until a month into the term. Fellowships are paid in full once per term in the first week of the term.</p>
<p>My program gave me a 12-month fellowship. Some programs offered 9 months + summer assistantship if available. Others said 9 month + summer fellowship.</p>
<p>The amounts vary a lot.</p>
<p>Oh, crazy. I had never heard of programs like that! Barium, you’re in physics, right? What field are you in Oyama?</p>
<p>My daughter is in computer sci and she has a 9 month stipend (paid biweekly, I think) which is usual. One summer she worked as a paid RA and the next summer she did a paid industry internship.</p>
<p>My stipend is 9 months only… so I just put aside money for the summer months. Also I get one lump sum on the 1st of each month.
So I guess it varies?</p>
<p>RacinReaver, PhD in marketing/business</p>
<p>Like someone said - ask.</p>
<p>Im currently in MS in math program and Im on a TA. The stipend is for 9 months and in this 9 months we get paid biweekly including the breaks (so i get paid all of December without doing anything). Like someone said, some dont pay over the breaks (which would increase the biweekly amounts).</p>
<p>I have applied to PhD in math programs and already gotten accepted and all TA offers have been for 9 months, leaving summer as an extra income if one works (although it is not guaranteed).</p>
<p>I said all of this to give you an idea of how there is no standard and every university does it differently in a way. So again, ask them about their structure.</p>
<p>For reference, it was for 12 months, but to get the money during the summer you have to actually be working and not somewhere else. (CMU)</p>
<p>Same - ours was a 9-month stipend. Under my fellowship I had the option to work there as an RA over the summer for funding, but departmental fellowship recipients had to apply for RAships from professors who had funding.</p>