Tag Archives: finding funding

And now your waiting? What to do next?

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Now that you have sent in your application, you must be wondering what you should do next.  Double check with your school if you need to submit separate applications for fellowships and scholarships.  You will want to investigate these opportunities.  It’s a good idea to talk to faculty of your department to see what departmental opportunities there are to apply for.  Fellowships will provide opportunities for you not only to seek funding but also experience.  What is important about fellowships is that they allow you to be secure regarding funding and during your first year as a graduate student, you can explore other options if your fellowship is only awarded for one year.  If fellowships are not an option, begin looking for other financial assistance either through campus employment or working in the community if you are in need of funding while studying. Many schools and departments have research centers that may be looking for help.  Make sure to be exhaustive in your search.

If you have missed the deadline to apply for fellowships, create a folder and collect information for the next year.  Being prepared will help you keep a foot out front and have all necessary documents, recommendations, and information ready to submit at a moment’s notice.  If you are needing recommendations, do not procrastinate.  Professors will write you a better recommendation if they have time to prepare and not have to use a “canned” letter.

Stay tuned to next month about filing for a FAFSA.

 

Adventures of a Housing Grad

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If you tuned in to the Adobe Connect chat last week, I spoke a lot about working in on campus with Residential Programs and Services (RPS).  I thought I would provide more details about what I actually do. In order to enter the HESA program, I needed to have an assistantship.  My assistantship is with RPS as a Graduate Supervisor. I live in one of the residence halls on campus and supervise the Resident Assistants in the building.  I gain a lot of experience working with student leaders and organizations within the building.

Why hold an assistantship? There are two main reasons you should hold an assistantship. First, you gain hands on experience in your field.   Secondly, many of the assistantships pay for some or all of your tuition.  If you haven’t thought about getting an assistantship before, it might be something for you to look into holding.

There are a number of assistantships that are available for HESA and non-HESA students. Here’s the link to the RPS website if you are interested in any of the positions: http://www.rps.indiana.edu/gradjobs.cfml

Me with my RAs at a February program

Funding Blues

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Folks, I’ve got the funding blues. There’s nothing that takes the spring out of your step quite like a rejection letter. It’s enough to make even a beautiful spring day like today turn sour. So since we’re talking about funding this month, I thought it was time for some advice on what to do when you get that email:

First things first – give yourself a little time to feel like lousy. It’s not fun getting turned down. It’s especially not fun when you really really wanted it. And it’s even worse when someone else you know succeeded while you did not. So it’s okay to spend a little time wallowing in grief over the lost opportunity and seeking comforting words from people who care about you. But the emphasis here is on a little time. I wouldn’t waste a full day on it, because next up you need to remember these things:

1. This is not a reflection of your self worth, intelligence, ability, or future success and awesome achievement. You are worthy, intelligent, and able. And you will be successful and achieve awesome things.

2. Every grant or other opportunity you apply for is a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes the wrong person sees it, or maybe your topic isn’t quite timely. Even if your application could use some improvement, very rarely does a rejection letter mean it was terrible.

3. It takes a lot of applications to succeed. Some professors will say you have to apply for seven grants before you receive one. Some say you have to apply for ten. So rather than think of a rejection as a failure, think of yourself as just crossing off one of those necessary bullets that everyone has to bite before they score big.

If you can remember these three things, you’ll spend less time with the funding blues and more time finding new opportunities. So once you’ve shaken off that “rejection letter funk,” go back to your mentor for some more guidance, revisit some of the excellent advice that the other emissaries have provided this month, and attack your next application without fear – because one little letter has no place impeding your journey!

Get that $$$$

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Money makes the world go ’round, and unfortunately, it is also the foundation of a graduate student career. As a graduate student, a big portion of the time goes into thinking about money. Are you budgeting correctly to pay for living expenses? Can you afford that trip to that really big, important conference? Where are you going to get money to conduct that research project? Do you have funding to support graduate school next year?

Fortunately, there are lots of sources out there where you can get money. My tips for getting this money is to: start early, do it often, and get help.

It is never to early to start applying to get money. NOW is the perfect time. Look for external fellowships even if your department is funding you, and apply to all of the ones you are eligible for. When going to a conference, apply for a travel grant. If you are starting a new research project, apply for grants to fund it, no matter how small. The more you apply, the greater the chance is of you getting something, and the better you get at writing grant applications (practice makes perfect!). Most importantly, talk to others who have gotten funding before. People who received funding don’t receive it by luck, they did something right. Ask them to see their applications, ask them to read yours, team up with researchers and faculty members who are well funded.

So what are you waiting for? Go out there and get that cash!

Tips for applying to external funding

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Most of my colleagues have talked about the most common source of funding for graduate students: research and teaching assistantship. However, I am going to take a different route and share some tips that helped get a highly competitive external fellowship.

Tip #1: Find someone that received a competitive fellowship and ask them if they will be open to share their materials with you. To be honest, most people will say no, but all you just need if for one person to agree. Once I got a successful application, it was not difficult to identify what I was missing.

Tip #2: Identify one of more faculty members that specialize in the area you are interested, and ask them if they will be willing to give feedback on your proposal. In my case, I approached a potential adviser and his comments played a fundamental role in improving the quality of my proposed research plan.

Tip #3: Apply to at least one fellowship that provides feedback to all applicants. Therefore, even if you get rejected, you will receive feedback on your application.

Tip #4: Keep applying until you are no longer eligible. If you applied Tip #3 you will get a sense on which fellowships to re-apply and those that you should not bother. Do not get discouraged!

Good luck!

Here is a link to some external awards: http://www.indiana.edu/~grdschl/external-awards.php

Funding your graduate program

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When I applied to graduate school, I was really surprised by the differences in the ways universities handle funding and appointments for graduate students. In many cases, applicants have to be more than a little savvy and be willing to ask potentially uncomfortable questions about money. Some universities (or schools within a university) require prospective graduate students to fill out applications for assistantships, that is, an application separate from the application to admission to the program or school. Many programs, however, will automatically consider you for a research or teaching assistantship based on your program application materials. Some programs/schools have competitive fellowships for applicants, so be sure to call the programs to which you apply and ask explicitly.

No matter what avenue you pursue for funding your graduate program, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I think the most appropriate times to ask is both before you apply to the program/school (scholarships/fellowships – some have early deadlines) and then once you have received a letter of admission into the program (assistantships). If the program or school doesn’t send information with your acceptance letter, pick up the phone or send an email to the contact for your program and ask them about assistantships and fellowships.

Most assistantships come in two forms: research assistantships (RA) or teaching assistantships (TA). For RAs, you will probably be expected to help a faculty member with some aspect of a research project(s): doing literature searches, conducting lab or field experiments, collecting and/or analyzing data, and in some cases, writing. For TAs, you will teach one or more sections of an undergraduate course in your program or school. If you don’t have previous teaching experience, this can be pretty intimidating. Most universities now have supports in place to help TAs get oriented to teaching, but honestly, your best resources for teaching are faculty members and the seasoned graduate students in your program. No matter what type of assistantship you receive, you can expect a tuition waiver (partial or full) and a (very) modest stipend for teaching. Most graduate students find it difficult to live on the stipend they receive, but to me, the tuition waiver is what makes the assistantship fiscally valuable. Without it, many graduate students would be strapped with monumental student loans, especially if you are coming to the program as an out-of-state resident. So you will find that you probably will have to take out some student loans, but having the tuition wavier makes the amount of loans more reasonable. Finally, from a professional standpoint, assistantships are valuable because they provide you with experience with teaching and/or research that becomes invaluable as you enter the job market.

Securing Graduate School Funding.

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A few years ago, I gave a short presentation on securing funding to IU’s Hudson and Holland Scholars who were intending to pursue graduate studies. At a quick glance I thought it would be applicable here, see below for a summary and maybe something you read will catch your attention.

What is your eligibility? Experience (previous work, research, or internships); merit; retention of underrepresented population; duration of funding (entire time frame or renewable).

Internal Funding – Departmental & Institutional Often offered with acceptance letter and largely based on merit. Examples may include: fellowships in the form of merit-diversity-underrepresented groups; assistantships such as research-instruction-teaching assistant; work-study, similar as an undergraduate; grants that may potentially based on merit; the FAFSA based on financial need.

External Funding – Multiple Options Outside of your department; similar as opportunities as mentioned above, but may or may not be closely related to your field or area of study.

Initial search for External Funding – Institution’s Graduate School; position openings within another department; supporting organizations in your field; national organizations within your city or community that you reside in.

Strategize – Submit simultaneous applications, when you apply to the graduate program, also apply to potential funding sources with the idea in mind that you anticipate admittance into the graduate program; ask about opportunities for funding.

Admitted to program and offered internal funding – Q: Will I be supported each year or is there a time limit? Stipend, tuition remission (reduction), other (insurance).

Admitted to program, yet no internal funding offered – Consider the rankings and prestige of program that you are admitted to; not obtaining an offer initially does not suggest you will not get one at a later time in your program (half way through your first year or in your second year)

You’ll have to ask yourself, what challenges may arise if you do not obtain internal funding initially? Attaining funding may require concentrated organization – Keep in contact with faculty and departments; forward your resume/vitae and coverletter to prospective openings; make a list all possible opportunities; check *eligibility & *deadlines; applications may suggest applying in the spring for upcoming academic year; applications may open in the fall and a response may be given in the spring for summer or subsequent year; create a folder for each application.

Understand all of your options – Here are some institutions/programs to help you start your search Graduate office and your department; research centers specific to field and related fields; Trio programs (McNair); Fulbright programs; Ford Foundation; Spencer Foundation, Gates Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of Health; Ed.gov; National Science Foundation; Hispanic College Fund; Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Office of Minority Health; *review other’s CVs; join professional organizations to access listserves/information.

 

 

Some Fundamentals of Funding

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There is no shortage of information regarding graduate school funding.  There are plenty of websites completely devoted to educating people on how to fund their graduate education.   Most of them will tell you to get creative in your search, to be thorough, and point you in the direction of some common sources of funding.

If you’re interested enough in graduate school to be reading this blog post, chances are you’ve already spent some time determining how you’ll pay for school.  Rather than tell you about funding sources you’ve already found, here’s some other things to take into consideration when looking at funding options.

  1. It’s important to know how funding works and how it is awarded.  Funding types (teaching assistant, research assistant, graduate assistant, fellowship, etc) vary from institution to institution as well as by type of program.  Universities also use different terminology, so it can be difficult to compare one program to the next.  For example, at some institutions, teaching assistantships are reserved for those in a doctoral program, while administrative or student life assistantships are reserved for students in higher education administration programs.  At other places, anyone can apply for any form of funding as long as he or she meets the criteria.  If you can’t readily find this information on a university’s website, be sure to ask someone in your potential department how funding works and where to find university-specific funding information.
  2. Think of a funding source as part of your pathway to future employment.  For most of us, funding is in fact a job, so it’s not too much of a stretch to think in this way.  But more importantly, take into consideration how you plan to put your hard-earned graduate degree to use.  Do you hope to be a professor at a teaching university? Or are you more research-driven?  Consider how your funding source will prepare you for future employment.
  3. Many types of funding come with an expiration date.  For instance, some fellowships are for 1 year, while many departmental teaching assistantships are renewable for 4 or 5 years.  Keep this in mind when weighing your decisions of which department is right for you.
  4. Once you’ve secured your funding source and are enrolled in school, don’t forget that although your funding is a job, your first priority is your own academic work.  It is very easy to get distracted with your job and prioritize it over your academic success.
  5. If you’re overwhelmed by the problem of funding, take a deep breath and contact someone at the universities you’re interested in.  Don’t be afraid to say you are confused by the system; it is confusing!  Departmental assistants are a great place to start; they seem to know everything.  They can usually point you in the direction of someone who knows how to help you.  Universities have offices staffed with great, knowledgeable people who can help—and want—you to succeed.  Make sure you take advantage of the resources they provide.

Living on a budget

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….is part of life in graduate school.  I haven’t really had an issue living within my means, as I’ve always been fairly conscious of my money and where it was going.  However, there are a few things that are important to consider in terms of budgeting for graduate school.

Many programs at IU offer a part-time teaching contract with your acceptance to their department.  To my knowledge, the packages range in amount and contract years–I think the average is something like 4-5 years of funding.

There are many places on campus where students can research further options for funding, including student loans, scholarships, fellowships, and work-study.

For nearly everyone arriving at graduate school from a paying job, of course, you’ll be taking a major pay cut. But that’s pretty obvious from the start…

In short, if you are smart about managing your money while you’re in graduate school, it’s entirely feasible to get through your program while staying comfortable and happy. It just means thinking carefully about the expenses you know you’ll have to shell out for, and the ones that you know are non-essential, even if you don’t want to admit it.

At IU, funding is guaranteed for PhD students in Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemistry for 5 years

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PhD students in the Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemistry programs are guaranteed to have funding for at least five years in the form of Research Assistantship (RA), Teaching Assistantship (we call it AI-ship here, AI for Associate Instructor), or Fellowship. All applicants are automatically entered for any eligible University/Departmental fellowships during the application process. What all these mean is that if you get an offer from these programs at IU, you receive tuition remission, health insurance, and a good stipend for at least five years.

For Master’s students, teaching positions are always available too as we have lots of undergraduate level classes that need AI’s majoring in these fields.

Now if you are brining your own external funds, that would be even better because you wouldn’t worry about having to teach at some point during your graduate career and would be able to focus full-time on your research. One to two semesters of teaching experience, however, is part of the requirements for your degree.