<p>Hello everyone,
My parent's are paying for my undergraduate at UCR. I want to apply for a PhD program in Political Science when I graduate in 2 years.
I want to be independent from my parents, and we don't exactly see eye to eye.
I can't really find anything about funding in graduate school numberwise.</p>
<p>If I apply to a UC for Pol Sci graduate school (PhD), will I be able to have my tuition paid, and work as a TA? How much would I be able to save up?</p>
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<p>Don’t know for UCR specifically, but generally yes. My advice has ALWAYS been that if you are paying for a PhD, you are probably making a bad decision.</p>
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When? Very few people make enough money during grad school to actually save everything - according to the link below, TA’s make about $1900/month, and I would not expect to do much more than get by.</p>
<p><a href=“http://graduate.ucr.edu/forms/TAProj12_13.pdf”>http://graduate.ucr.edu/forms/TAProj12_13.pdf</a> </p>
<p>Which brings us back to…</p>
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Probably? It depends on whether you mean have a place all to yourself, and what your standards are - you could probably a cheap apartment that you would have to yourself, or a nicer apartment that you would share.</p>
<p>But living with your parents should not be necessary.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. I wasn’t planning on attending UCR for grad school. Damn, I was hoping to have most of my tuition paid, and work as a TA to pay the full tuition and save.</p>
<p>So is it easy to apply for a loan in graduate school? Would a good option be to have some tuition paid through a fellowship etc, take out a loan to pay the rest, and TA to save up on the side?</p>
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<p>Typical funding packages include a combination of fellowships, teaching assistantships (TA), and/or research assistantships (RA). Both TA and RA positions usually carry tuition remission, so you wouldn’t have to worry about paying tuition. (University and/or Departmental Fellowships will normally cover tuition and fees as well.)</p>
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<p>Since the job market is, put mildly, uncertain, you should avoid loans. Fortunately, most programs offer enough money that you do not need to accrue debt, though you’ll need to live modestly. You’ll find that different programs offer varying levels of financial support, so be sure to peruse departmental websites for that particular information.</p>
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Depends on how well you pinch pennies. Stipends are taxable, so you’ll have to take that into consideration.</p>
<p>If you are applying to PhD programs in political science, the majority of programs will offer you a funding package that will pay for your tuition, fees and health insurance, as well as provide you with a stipend. The stipend varies but is generally between $20-30K per year. In exchange you usually have to do some combination of research and teaching.</p>
<p>You should not have to borrow money to pay tuition in a PhD program, and if you are asked to, I would say you should turn down that program and attend one with full funding.</p>