21: Negotiating a PhD Funding Offer

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hello, everyone. Happy Friday. Today's episode is on negotiating a PhD funding offer. Before I get started, I am going to go into a listener review. I just want to remind everyone that I'm still asking for my listeners to provide a comment on Apple podcasts and your iTunes app. Let me know what you think about the podcast. Give me your three, four, five star review. Leave a comment. I'll be reading them on my future episodes, and I'm going to be giving out some free goodies, like a CV template, a grad school list template, a statement of purpose prewriting handout, or a self care and stress management PowerPoint.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So today, the person that I am going to be pulling up is- their name is voodoo13. Now I gotta pull up the comment, trying to find it now. Let's see. Give me just a second. Also I should mention, today's episode is going to be a little shorter than usual, because I'm not feeling that great. Somehow I woke up with a stiff neck. I slept wrong, and it's really hard to move my neck. So if I sound a little less enthusiastic, it's because I'm actually under a good amount of pain and trying to deal with it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But anyway, going back to the review. Voodoo13 said- the title of the comment is "So Helpful"- and they said, I've learned a lot from this podcast so far, and would recommend it to anyone who was interested in going to grad school. Thank you so much for that comment. I'm really grateful for it. I've got 12 ratings now. I'm looking for more. So please, please, please do me that favor, and go ahead and leave me a review.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, so now I'm just gonna talk off the cuff, what I know when it comes to negotiating a Ph.D funding offer. I decided to talk about this today because, again, a lot of it has to do with what I'm addressing with my current students that I advise in the McNair Scholars Program at UCSB. I've got students who have more than one PhD acceptance letter and funding package. I usually tell them, you want to make sure that you review the funding packages closely to see what they are offering you. Ideally, they're offering you a full funding package- that's five or six years of funding. In some fields, they won't even name the amount of years that they're funding you for, but they'll say, we will provide you with the stipend that's X amount during your time in graduate school. Which means, they will fund you for however long you're there. That could that could be four, five, six, seven, eight years. So you want to look for that. You also want to know the breakdown of whether or not you're getting fellowship years, whether or not you're getting funded through TA ships, through research assistantships. Some schools will offer you summer funding, a summer stipend. Some schools sometimes offer a transitional stipend, and it's a certain amount. Let's say it's $1,200 that you'll get your first term- in the fall term- just to help you with transitioning into the university. Some programs also offer to provide funding for relocation expenses. So all of this is something to consider.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now I just want to tell you, when and how to negotiate. Anybody who has been accepted to a PhD program can always ask about whether or not they provide these additional sources of funding. But if you don't have another funding package that is stronger, that you can use as a bargaining tool, it's not going to take you very far. But again, it doesn't hurt to ask. Let's say for instance, in your situation, you've only been admitted to one PhD program. This PhD program is offering you full funding. You've got five years, two of those years or fellowship years, and then the other three years are a combination of TA ships and research assistantships. Then you see that there's no mention of summer funding, no mention of providing you funding for relocation expenses, nothing like that. You can always ask, is there any funding provided to relocate? Especially if you're going from one coast to another, from East Coast to West Coast, West Coast to East Coast. If you're making a move out of state, that's something you could ask. Sometimes they don't have any funding to offer for that, and sometimes they do. Sometimes they'll say, you know what, we will provide you with $500 on a reimbursement basis, if you provide us with receipts. Or we can provide you with up to $1,000 for relocation expenses. So again, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But I also highly recommend that you have more than one funding offer that you compare your offers. Let's say you have a funding offer from a public university, and then you have a funding offer from a private university. Odds are, since private schools tend to have more funding, they are probably giving you a much bigger stipend. Maybe they're giving you more years, or any summer funding. Those are the things that you're going to notice and negotiate for. How do you do that? You send an email. Let's say you got the private school funding package, and they're offering you 36k as a stipend every year, versus a public university maybe is offering you 20k, or 25k. That's a substantial difference. What you do is you go to the public school and you say, thank you so much for this offer. I'm really excited at the prospect of attending this university, or at the prospect of starting in this program. Something along the lines of you expressing your enthusiasm and interest. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Thank you so much for this funding offer. I'm definitely interested in this program. I also wanted to let you know that I've been accepted at University of x, this is the private university. They have provided me with a stipend of X amount. I'm wondering if there's anything you can do to match or increase the stipend that you have offered me. This will allow me to make a more informed decision. I look forward to hearing back from you. Then you attach a copy of the funding offer from the other university.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This works very well because then they see who their competition is, and if they really want to, they will fight for you. The worst that can happen is they'll say, there's not much flexibility in our funding. Unfortunately, we cannot increase your funding offer. That's the worst thing that can happen is you end up the same place where you started. But a better thing- and most likely- they will try to add something. They may say, oh, well, we don't have the same amount of resources as University of x, but what we can do is we can offer you three years of summer funding. Or they might say, what we can do is we've recommended you for this other special fellowship that's going to increase your stipend to x. You see what I mean? If they really want you, they will find a way to offer you a little bit more. Maybe they can't offer as much as the private university, but more than likely they can offer a little bit more.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What else do I want to say about negotiating? This is not an easy thing to do. This is why the students come to me for advice. I help them with how to craft emails, so that they can express their interest in the program but also be very democratic in asking for more funding. I know it feels weird, because you probably feel guilty or maybe like, what if they change their mind because I'm asking for more? Am I being selfish? Or they're gonna rescind their offer, or they're gonna have a bad impression of me. But to be honest, this is you thinking those things because you're first gen. This you thinking those things because of imposter syndrome. I know when I got accepted to my Ph.D program, I felt so lucky to even get in anywhere that I thought that they honestly hadn't made a mistake. I felt that same way when I first got into undergrad too. I thought it was a mistake. And then when I got my job with McNair, to be completely honest, I didn't think it was a mistake this time around but I did think- oh, maybe not enough people applied to that job and the competition wasn't stiff. That's why I got it. And again, now that I know this, as someone who helps other students, as someone who reads on the topic, does research on the topic. I know it's the first gen side of me. I know it's the low income side of me that feels weird to even want to ask for more. I know is the imposter syndrome kicking in, but you have to try to find ways to fight that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

One way to do that is to ask for help. Reach out to your mentors, and see if they can help you craft an email. Talk to other people, you never know what kind of advice they can offer you. But don't let yourself prevent- don't let yourself get in the way of having a better opportunity. Again, if you don't ask for summer funding for a PhD program, you will likely struggle that much more to try to find a way to make ends meet during the two to three months that you're going to be on your own in the summer without any funding. Your future self -trust me -your future self is going to be grateful to you for asking for whatever it is additional that you're asking. It could be a little bit of funding to move. It could be one, two, three years of summer funding. It could be having a higher stipend. What else can it be? Those are the types of things that we typically have students ask for. It's much more convincing to ask for more if you have another offer, and a stronger offer- an offer that's giving you more. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Even if you don't have another offer, you can ask about relocation expenses. Even if you don't have another offer, you can ask- oh, I noticed here that you're providing me with a five year package, and that's really great. Thank you. But I also wanted to ask if any summer funding will be available? If so, what's the process to access that or to apply for that? Again, you want to set yourself up for the future. It's going to be really hard to get started- also, you can ask, if you're planning to move early, are there any opportunities for graduate students in the summer? Sometimes they may have paid positions in the summer. If you want to be a research assistant, sometimes they'll offer funding or housing for students who come early and you start doing your research early. So don't hesitate to ask. Even if you don't want to ask for more, but you want to ask for what other students have done. If you feel uncomfortable asking for more, and let's say you've only been admitted to one place, still find out what's available. Just say, how do students typically fund their summers? Do you have any recommendations for how to account for relocation expenses? Are there any housing opportunities for students who want to start living there early? Are there any jobs that provide tuition fees for students who do not receive full funding? Let's say you didn't get a full funding package. They're only offering you the first two years of funding, and then after that, you have to figure it out. You don't want to accept an offer unless you know that you can find a way to get your PhD paid for. I don't believe in incurring debt for grad school, especially for a PhD program. This is why I'm telling you this now.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I think that's all I want to say when it comes to negotiating a funding package. If other things come up, I'll be happy to share especially if you asked me additional questions about your particular circumstance. I'll go ahead and answer that during my Q&A.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now I am going to answer a question that I got over Instagram. It is by someone named Holasflola. I'm not sure how to pronounce that, but I'll just say Holasflola. So she says, hello. I first wanted to say thank you for your podcast. It has helped tremendously. I was recently accepted into X University's MSW program and they are doing a day long Sneak Peek for admitted students, and I was wondering what you thought appropriate attire would be. So this is an interesting question. I've been asked this question a lot by my current students, because they've been going all over the country to interview.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Typically, it's always best to go business casual. Have at least one outfit that's business casual. In certain fields, you may be required to maybe dress more business professional. Let's say, if you were going to a business school, obviously business professional would make more sense. In other fields, casual is okay, too. I'm thinking here fields like ecology, earth science, geology. Or maybe going on a hike is part of your visitation, or part of the plan. Or they tell you -actually, I did have one case where a student was going to Connecticut, very cold weather. In the email, they told everybody who was going to visit for an interview, this event is a casual event. Please make sure to dress warm and prioritize that over wearing anything professional. I thought that was very nice of that department say that. But if all else fails, go business professional. What does that mean? Depends on what part of the country you're living in. In a lot of places, it's a little cold right now. So slacks, some dress shoes, closed toed shoes, a nice sweater, perhaps a blazer over. Anything that you would typically wear to an academic conference, to a presentation. That's the kind of attire that you want to wear. I know some women like to wear dresses with tights under, perhaps some nice boots. Or a long sleeve shirt buttoned down for men. In some cases, you can get away with wearing a polo shirt. Those are just some options. But whatever is business casual for you should be okay for your interview. All right, thank you so much for that question.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now I'm going to actually end the episode by giving a quick shout out. I'm going to give a shout out to someone named Morgan, who is the first person to support me on my Patreon at the dollar a month level. This is just a reminder to everybody, I do have a patreon page. In there, you can get some special sneak peeks for future episodes. You can- depending on if you're doing $1 a month, or $5 a month, you can get- again, you find out early on what my future episodes are on. Some folks get to hear episodes early before I even publish them on iTunes and on Anchor. You also get additional handouts, PowerPoints, things like that related to graduate school preparation. So thank you again, Morgan for your support. I look forward to having other people support me on Patreon. So if you're interested, go to my Instagram account and the link is in my bio. You'll be able to find it there.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The other thing I wanted to say is that I actually just started a website, and it is called gradschoolfemtoring.com. In it, you can learn more about the podcast, you can learn more about the book that I'm in the process of writing, which is going to be a grad school Femtoring Guide. It's a step by step guide to help you prepare before, during and after applying to graduate school. You can also book me for $25 coaching sessions. I'm now offering half hour coaching sessions to anybody who wants to work with me. Again, like I said, it's $25. My going rate for academic coaching and editing has been much higher, and I've only accepted a limited number of clients in the past. But I'm at a point where I am definitely ready and interested in taking on more clients, and I also want to be more accessible, which is why I lowered my rates. If you want to work with me, go ahead and book me. You can go to gradschoolfemtoring.com to book a meeting with me. You can go to my website to book an appointment with me, or you could DM me on Instagram and I'll get back to you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then one last thing before I go is I am also accepting co hosts for my podcast. If you're just curious and interested and would like to be featured as a co host on the podcast- whether you're an undergrad who has a lot of questions, or you're a grad student who wants to talk about your experience, or you're an early career professor who wants to share more wisdom. Please reach out to me. I'm happy to work with your schedule so that we can find a time to chat and record and share more information that will be helpful for low income first gen students. Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you all and talk to you all next week.