I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I was comparing graduate school offers, going on visits, and trying to decide where to continue my education. However, I remember it being a time full of crunching numbers, looking for hidden costs, and comparing how much a Ph.D. stipend would really cover. The goal of this blog is to, hopefully, make that process a little simpler for you!
What is “Cost of Living”?
Maybe you’ve heard this term before, but in case you haven’t, it’s a type of index that describes how far your money will go in a given location. For example, housing costs tend to be more expensive in urban areas compared to rural areas; thus, the cost of living in urban areas tends to be higher than in rural areas. Of course, cost of living indices may not encapsulate every component that will affect your life, but they give a good sense of how well your income will cover your expenses (i.e., purchasing power) when you move somewhere new.
Why Does Cost of Living Matter for Prospective Ph.D. Students?
You’ve gotten some graduate school offers - congratulations! Your next step is to find the university that best fits your needs, a task that doesn’t seem daunting at all (please read this with sarcasm). While you can’t always quantify community fit or how well your research interests match, one factor you can quantify is how far your stipend will go in the location of each institution. While money may not be everything, it is certainly worth considering when picking a graduate school.
How to Calculate Cost of Living
The cost of living includes various expenses such as:
- Housing: Rent or mortgage payments.
- Transportation: Costs of public transit, car ownership, fuel, and parking.
- Food: Grocery and dining expenses.
- Utilities: Electricity, water, internet, and other essential services.
- Healthcare: Insurance premiums, medical visits, and medications.
- Taxes: State and local income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. (Side note: Texas does not have state income tax, which is super nice!)
- Entertainment and Miscellaneous: Leisure activities, personal care, and other non-essential expenditures.
But finding how much each of these things costs in each city by yourself would be a total pain in the neck! Luckily for us, tools that calculate the cost of living are easily accessible. I think the easiest to use is from NerdWallet, which lets you put in one city and the stipend amount, then choose another city and see what stipend you would need there to have the same purchasing power. See my example below!
What this value tells me is that Rice’s minimum stipend for Ph.D. students ($36,000) in Houston would have the same purchasing power as a stipend in Chicago that is almost $7,000 larger. This data indicates that the cost of living in Houston is much lower than in Chicago!
Of course, if you are more tech-savvy than me, you could also write your own code to perform these calculations and factor in categories of spending that are important to you. Just know that most of this cost of living index data comes from the Council for Community and Economic Research (with most indices behind a paywall).
Other Considerations
Remember that cost of living is just one metric that contributes to how far your Ph.D. stipend will go. It’s also important to remember “hidden fees” that graduate students might face that aren’t as typical for most jobs. This can include things like healthcare payments, school fees, or university parking costs. Take note of each of these costs when considering your stipend’s “net value.” If these costs aren’t included in your offer letter, ask students at the institution what they pay for each of these items!
My Advice
Money shouldn’t be the only factor when you decide on a graduate program. In reality, many of the stipends are roughly equal once you factor in the cost of living - just make sure you don’t get distracted by a large value and come to find out its purchasing power is minimal because the institution is in an expensive location. Graduate school is a place where you will live and work for 4-6 years, so it’s important that you like the city you live in, the community you surround yourself with, and the research you will be doing. However, if it comes down to a tiebreaker, I hope cost of living calculations can help you make an informed decision.
About the author:
Carly Graverson is from Milwaukee, WI, and is a current Ph.D. student in Chemistry. She got her B.S. in Chemistry from Lewis University in 2020. Read more.
Further Reading:
Banking in the USA for international students Part 1: the basics