Yes grad school has always been a refuge for new grads during tough economic times. I’m so glad that my older son got admitted last year. He’s got 4 more years to go to complete his PhD. By then I’m hoping for a better employment landscape. Doesn’t help the younger one graduating this year though. He’s ready to be done with school and just wants to work.
Doesn’t help majority who can’t afford grad school.
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True, but PhD. programs at least provide funding as do some research master’s, if you can get admitted.
It always amazes me though at the amount of debt some students are willing to take on to get a master’s degree.
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Along with a tougher job market, it’s also harder to get accepted into a PhD program this year—there are fewer spots available for candidates. Master’s programs won’t be hit as hard since they’re mostly self-funded and bring in good money for universities.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00608-z
^^ Apologies that article is paywalled. I forgot I was logged in to a system that gives me access. Here’s a different take on same topic.
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A lot of that funding is being gutted right now.
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I know. I follow grad admissions on Reddit. Getting outright rejected is one thing, but I really feel badly for the kids who got acceptances only to then have them rescinded due to funding cuts/uncertainties.
This cycle has been even more brutal than usual.
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In the next year, if our son can’t find a doctoral program in his specialty that is still admitting candidates, or he is not admitted to any that are, he will finally leave the Army (his commitment is just about up) and begin making his way in the real world. He’s been in school since he was five years old, so maybe a break isn’t a bad idea, but no one wants to be forced out. What does it say about this country when we are slowing or stopping investment in the very minds we need to carry the torch of future education, invention, innovation, artistry, and leadership? I hope to high heaven this egregious misdirection is temporary, but even if the ship is righted in a few years, much irreversible damage has been done.
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Not with 15% overhead on funding grants. Assuming a lab has a grant in the first place. SIL (Stem professor in area that is actually listed in the federal budget) says that 15% overhead wont pay for the tuition remission, living stipend or health insurance for even one grad student.
Overhead will go to pay for “vital” services like heat/cooling and lights, building mortgages, facilities upkeep and maintenance and computer services first.
Also all NSF grants have been indefinitely “paused” --both new applications and currently funded projects.
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My son’s engineering internhip in Dallas (we live in Atlanta) paid at $60k /year monthly rate for the summer. I thought that was normal as this was not a large F500 company but a small private, successful company (DOD contractor). He ended up not doing the internship due to COVID canceling everything but he had already signed an apartment lease that allowed for a 6 month lease and he would have to pay to exit early but the salary covered that easily. They also canceled the lease at no charge. It was a nice deal I thought.
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My son just brought this up as his graduate research assistanceship paid 100% tuition and a salary that covered his living expenses in private apartment across the street from the engineering complex. He would not have been able to afford grad school without that research opportunity.
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My husband worked in a research lab for a Big 10 institution in 2000’s - mid 2010s. First as a Phd student, then research assistant, etc, moving up to Assoc Professor. During that time, 15% indirect cost added to all funded grants was standard and sufficient. It covered all you listed above, along with travel expenses, and all other associated overhead. Why do you feel it is no longer sufficient? Not trying to be argumentative, honestly wondering as it was standard up until the past decade or so and everything functioned fine.
Yes I’ve been following this developing situation on Reddit’s r/professor. I’m no expert on how this will shake out going forward. Some seem to think that much of these costs will be shifted to researcher’s direct costs budgets which will complicate the budgeting process and result in much duplication of services. Whatever happens it’s certainly a difficult time to be pursuing graduate studies in the US at the moment. Anecdotally I’m seeing much higher levels of inquiries on Reddit forums from potential grad students on pursuing programs outside of the US, both for international students and domestic.
At the time my son was applying to grad school programs in the fall of 2023, I was somewhat disappointed that he had chosen not to apply internationally to top programs in his field. In retrospect given the current funding situation in the US and the global impacts that it’s having, I think choosing to attend domestically ended up working out for the best.
Also given the economic landscape at present, he’s also fortunate to be able to weather the downturn in grad school. As it stands right now his funding package is secure. Whether that will change in the future only time will tell.
Are you sure you aren’t remembering the rate for private grants?
My experience at that time was that private grants were around that level but Federal IDC rates weren’t that low anywhere. Varied by location, of course, as facilities costs in Kansas aren’t the same as in Palo Alto.
In response to your question, the rate is insufficient because it won’t cover the overhead costs of facilities and administration, which is the purpose.
Perhaps the proper question is why not negotiate and set these rates at the institutional level, taking local costs into account, as is current practice? Is it really rational to think that a randomly selected flat number represents the true cost of building maintenance, staffing, utilities, IT, etc., at thousands of Universities with very different cost constraints? Or perhaps rationality and facilitating research aren’t the actual goals?
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Excellent post.
Rockefeller in the middle of NYC faces a very different cost structure than Mayo or Cleveland Clinic (and neither of them are rural…)
Not me. I’m not a scientist. I was permanent support personnel at the research lab where I worked. (You know, one of the people that overhead helps pays the salary for and whose job is vital for research operations to carried out.)
It’s what my SIL told told me. His research field requires access to massively large computing systems. He said that it’s not just the computer that costs $$, but the special facility it’s housed in with high volume cooling & ventilation systems, the staff it takes to run it. It requires 24/7 tech support and maintenance. It can’t just be casually shut down and started up. It also requires large amounts of electricity to run. So that’s a big expense. His office is in a brand new 12 story building in a very high land cost area that has specially stabilized underground labs. Someone has to got to pay for that building (or at least pay the annual interest and eventually pay off the principal of the bond the university issued to pay for it.)
Plus there’s more…He’s been upset enough that he doesn’t want to talk about it.
SIL also wants people to know that he flies coach (and at over 6’ tall, coach on international flights is a real sacrifice). He’s allowed just $24 (from his overhead budget) to take prospective new faculty members to lunch as part of the interview & recruiting process. (In this area, that’s a burger with NO drink once tax and tip are added at a mid-range restaurant. SIL has to buy his own lunch when he interviews.)
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While the cuts in research funding and other grants does have a strong affect on job prospects of grads, it is also a wide ranging and complex topic that should be discussed in its own thread. This thread should focus primarily on job prospects.
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Useful statistics:
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