Transcript Title of presentation goes here

Financially Supporting your
Graduate Education
Maria Gini and Jamika D. Burge
First things first
 Brief Introductions
 Why should
you think about finances?
 How do you find financial support?
 What kind of financial support is available?
 How do you apply for funding?
Let’s start with a few questions
①What is your financial support for …
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this semester?
this summer?
next year?
next 3 years?
next 10 years?
②Which of the above questions worry you
the most?
• If you are not worried, that’s great too.
③What would be the ideal funding
situation for you?
Everyone needs financial support
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Professors must find funding for:
◦ Personnel (Students/Postdocs)
◦ Travel
◦ Equipment
◦ Summer salary
Graduate students must find finding for:
◦ Living expenses
◦ Travel
◦ Equipment
Your parents
◦ YOU!
◦ Home
◦ Car
◦ Retirement
Financial support is the freedom
to pursue your personal goals
Embrace the challenge!
Embrace the opportunity!
How will you fund graduate school?
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Traditional mechanisms
◦ Teaching assistantship (TA)
◦ Research assistantship (RA)
◦ Fellowships and scholarships (NSF, IBM,
GAANN, etc.)
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Alternatives
◦ On or off campus jobs (fewer opportunities
for international students)
◦ Educational loans
◦ Travel grants (to attend conferences)
◦ Friends and relatives
◦ Personal savings
◦ Lottery
Funding for PhD students
 3-7 years
 May have different types of funding during
your PhD study
 Typically you start with a fellowship or
as a TA, then you get an RA or a
fellowship for advanced students
 Can be stressful if funding source is
uncertain from year to year or semester to
semester
Funding for Master’s students
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1 – 2 years
Hard to obtain funding since most funding
opportunities are for PhD students
Consider alternatives, such as
◦ getting your MS at a prestigious university without
funding vs
◦ a smaller university with funding (typically as a TA)
Loans are an alternative since you’ll be able to pay
them back when you get a job
There are many job opportunities even for
international students
Be creative and persistent
Teaching Assistantship (TA)
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Pros
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Teaching experience
Best way to learn a subject is to teach it
Practice/learn presentation skills
Not tied to a research group
Cons
◦ Must do research in addition to teaching obligations
◦ Often you will not teach but grade papers and hold
office hours
◦ May be more than a teaching assistant
Research Assistantship (RA)
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Pros
◦ Getting paid to do research that hopefully is related to
your degree
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Cons
◦ You are tied to a research group and a faculty.
◦ It is OKAY to switch groups and advisors, early in your
studies. But, be careful.
Finding a Research Assistantship
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Get involved!
Explore before you commit.
◦ How do you feel after you leave his/her office? Inspired?
Crappy? Do not ignore these feelings!
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Talk to professors early.
◦ Do your homework before talking with them. Look at
their research, so you have an idea of what they do.
◦ Figure out what part of their research may interest you.
◦ Talk with their students to understand how they work
and their supervision style.
◦ When you met them, ask for paper recommendations
and propose ideas.
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Attend research meetings. Many faculty allow
students not in their group to attend their
meetings. If you attend, be an active participant.
Finding External Funding
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Ask your advisor
◦ Fellowships in your area?
◦ Fellowships at your university? Many universities have
fellowships for incoming students. There might have also
fellowships for current students.
◦ Government fellowships? Check if the department has
GAANN fellowships (need based for US citizens from Dept
of Education).
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Ask your peers
Search!
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Your university website for sources of internal funding
Scholarship websites
Companies
Government agencies
Name
Years
funded
Women
Only
Minorities
Only
US Citizen
only
Deadline
Microsoft
3
Oct
Hertz
5
Oct
IBM
3
Oct
•Name
NSF
•Years funded
•Women Only
•Minorities
NPSC Only
•US Citizen only
•Deadline
American Association
•Microsoft
3
Yes
Nov
2-6
Yes
Nov
of University Women
1
Yes
•Hertz
Google
Anita Borg
1
Yes
Lucent
•IBM
Bell
4
Yes
AT&T
•NSF
3
DHS
3
•NPSC
NDSEG
3
DOE Association of University Women4
•American
SMART
2-3
Nov
•3
•Oct
•5
•Oct
•3
•Oct
Yes
Jan
Yes
Jan
Yes
Jan
•3
•Yes
•Nov
•2-6
•Yes
•Nov
•1
•Yes
•Nov
Yes
Jan
Yes
Jan
Yes
Jan
Yes
Jan
Yes
Feb
Yes
July
Yes
Nov
•Google Anita Borg
NASA-GSRP
3
•Lucent
Bell in
Women
1
Defense
GEM Consortium
2-4
•1
•Yes
•Jan
Yes
•4
•Yes
•Yes
•Jan
•AT&T
•3
Yes
Don’t be afraid to apply!
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Typical reactions from women students.
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The worst thing that can happen is that you
will not get the fellowship. If that happens,
you will survive. I promise. 
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If you are interested and meet the specified
(not imagined) qualifications, then apply.
◦ “I’ll never get awarded this fellowship.”
◦ “I’m not qualified.”
◦ Once you have decided to apply, go full steam ahead.
◦ Erase all thoughts of not getting the fellowship.
◦ Be inspired by the opportunity.
Failure leads to success
I've missed more than 9000 shots
in my career. I've lost almost 300
games. 26 times, I've been trusted
to take the game winning shot and
missed. I've failed over and over
and over again in my life. And that
is why I succeed.
-- Michael Jordan
Failure leads to success
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Ask your professors …
◦ How many of their grant proposals have been
rejected?
◦ How many of their conference/journal papers
have been rejected?
◦ How many of their brilliant ideas didn’t pan
out?
◦ Despite the numerous possibilities for
rejection, why do they still love their job?
One acceptance outweighs a thousand
rejections.
Inside a Fellowship Application
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General form
Letters of reference
Transcripts
Test scores
Essays
◦ Personal history / personal statement
◦ Past work
◦ Proposed work
Preparing Essays
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Ask fellow graduate students for examples.
Steps for good essay
◦ Start early.
◦ Revise, revise, revise.
◦ Be specific and concrete!
Catch the reader’s attention immediately.
Get personal!
◦ Your application is not a technical (impersonal)
paper.
◦ Customize your essay to reflect your uniqueness.
◦ No boilerplate information should be in your essay.
After writing your essays, you should learn
something new about yourself.
Getting References
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Don’t be afraid to ask
Ask early, do not expect to get a letter if you
ask at the last minute. It takes time to write a
good letter.
Help your references write a strong letter
◦ State clearly the goals of the grant you’re applying for
◦ Hand over your personal statement and research
description.
◦ If the letter writer does not know you well, hand over
a copy of your transcript.
◦ Share your enthusiasm with them.
Remind your references of application
deadlines—especially helpful for professors
who are too busy.
Funding to attend a conference
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Hard, but worth a try.
Many conferences have some funding for students,
in particular authors of papers at the conference.
Some conferences offer a free student registration
in exchange for being a student volunteer.
◦ Check the conference web site
◦ If there is no information, write to the organizer (but do not
expect an answer)
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Look for external funding sources (rare)
◦ ACM-W travel grants
◦ Department or University travel grants
◦ CDC student conference travel fund
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Be frugal, share a room with other students
Surviving funding lapses
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Be flexible
Be frugal
Ask around
Ask to be a TA in your department and
consider being a TA in another
department
Consider an internship
Apply for part-time jobs
Apply for a loan
Most importantly … Do not panic!
Once you obtain funding
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Celebrate!
Promptly let the organization/person know your
decision to accept or not accept.
If you accept, you have made a commitment to
that organization/person.
After acceptance, if some life event requires you to
change your decision to accept to not accept
◦ Let the appropriate people know ASAP!
◦ It’s simple courtesy.
◦ The organization/person can find someone else
who needs the funding.
Summary
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There are funding opportunities for
EVERY person in this room!
Be persistent in seeking the funding that
best suits your situation.
Never talk yourself out of an
opportunity.
Be realistic.
Never let funding challenges stop you
from pursuing your dreams.
YOU ARE AMAZING! 
Thank you!
Thanks to all the previous developers of these slides which
include the collective wisdom of many Grad Cohort speakers