Future Doctora Fund (Financial and Beyond!)

Posted 2 years ago by Amelia-Marie Altstadt

Future Doctora Fund

The Future Doctora Fund channels all of the love and support of my community. This is a detailed post on desired kinds of support.

When I talk about being funded, while financial support is very appreciated, I also mean funding in expansive ways—your investment in me as a community matters. If you decide to invest in me, please leave your email and I will send a personalized thank you note and add you to my acknowledgments.

Links:

In this, I will cover in-depth what I’m requesting and why, what my income will be, conferences and other professional development items! I want to be very transparent about the costs behind moving and my PhD program, so if you are someone considering a PhD or you have no idea what a PhD program entails, you get some context. Items on the funding page are repeated below these questions and answers.

What I’m Requesting and Why

Life Stuff

Moving is expensive! Any part of supporting life stuff helps. Some of this is for more serious things, while some are more so I can get tea to drink while not feeling guilty.

  • THE MOVE (Cost: $1600 minimum)
    • $400 for movers to load up our UHaul
    • Approximately $796 for UHaul and towing.
    • $200-400 for gas
    • Extra random costs, like packaging tape.
  • CREATURE COMFORTS aka stuff to keep our ESAs calm and happy as we move.
    • Tripp’s favorite treats.
    • Dog-safe car seat
    • Soft-sided travel carriers for Burley and Thicket.
  • EMERGEN-TEA
    • Cover my tea and treats to help me get through all of my assignments!
    • Buy me my favorite loose leaf tea (anything mint or peach)!
    • Get me a gift card to use whenever.
  • SELF-CARE
    • Cover my Spotify subscription $4.99/month, as an essential study tool and relaxation tool.
    • Candles. Enough said.
    • Epsom salt! For tight muscles after leaning over a desk doing research all day.
  • APARTMENT LIVING
    • The Ikea wishlist and the Amazon wishlist both have items to help create a homey atmosphere.
    • Bookshelves for my books and cats to sit on, framing my gorgeous secretary rolltop desk I got from my grandmother.
    • Big ticket item would be a kitchen island with stools, on Lowe’s. 
    • Countertop dishwasher and countertop organization/kitchen sink supplies. Chicago doesn’t really do garbage disposals.

 

No $$ Support

The biggest support you can provide to me is actually through community. I sometimes struggle with initiating conversations and contact, especially if we haven’t talked in a while. However, I always respond to contact! I love talking with people, and I love helping others make, reach, and complete their goals. That’s why the biggest support you can provide is actually long-term community support. While all the energy is here now as we’re all excited about my future PhD, I know about the end of year one I may be feeling a little rough. So here are some community options which don’t require any money, solely your time. If you need my contact information, please reach out via contact@ameliamariewoo.com.

HELP PACK

    • Local to Lincoln? Please help us pack, take our stuff to donate or use, or borrow our cute corgi to take on a walk while we pack.
    • Not local to Lincoln? Help me by giving me a call and making sure I stay on track sorting and packing in June through July!

TALK ME UP

    • Share my name, what I do, what I work on! Social media, to your friends, colleagues, etc. It matters a lot to me that what I do is accessible to all. You never know what talking me up might lead to for me!

STEP AWAY FROM THE BOOKS

    • Call, Zoom, or Facetime me to catch up, while talking about anything other than PhD stuff, so I don’t get permanently sucked into my books.

SIT WITH ME

    • Sometimes, motivation to work is hard. Sitting with me (virtually or in person) while I do my homework, write articles, etc helps me focus. It’s called body-doubling!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

    • Sign up to edit a paper, chapters of my future dissertation. If you don’t know anything about what I do- great! I want to make sure everyone can understand my scholarship.

Direct to PhD

TUITION & FEES

    • My fellowship provides tuition remission and covers half of my fees.
    • I expect my out-of-pocket cost for the first semester to be over $2000. Anything you can contribute helps! This should be sent directly to me via one of the financial options above.

BACK TO SCHOOL

    • Supply shopping is the best part of starting school.
    • Money towards my bullet journal and research journal.
    • My favorite pens.
    • A SurfacePro 7 stylus pen

RESEARCH PATRON

    • Upgrade the storage of my research management Zotero! $20 to upgrade for a year. Zotero is how I keep my sources and thoughts organized.

SPONSOR A CONFERENCE

    • Any amount to go towards a conference registration! Even if I present at a conference, I don’t get free registration.

EXPAND MY LIBRARY

    • Buy books off my list to permanently add to my scholarship library.

If you have a different way you want to support, let me know!

Costs to Move

Income Via Fellowship & Cost Of Living in Chicago

What’s a fellowship?

I am very lucky and fortunate to be able to pursue my education as a full-time student with mentorship aimed toward my goal of being a professor. I am exceptionally blessed to have multi-year funding. This is so rare. I get to pursue my PhD without having a part or full-time job during my degree, other than my scholarship and research, for three out of four years. However, there are some things to consider financially.

What does the fellowship actually cover?

$33,000 a year, or $2,750 a month, provided through the UIC Pipeline to an Inclusive Faculty (PIF) Fellowship. It also provides tuition remission, meaning I am charged for tuition but then it goes away magically (not really), and covers half of my student fees. I don’t get the first disbursement until one month after beginning my PhD program. This is typical in higher education. What I’ve learned as a first-genish student, thanks to Twitter, is I don’t really get $2,750 a month as is laid out in my offer letter. Fellowships are taxed but in a weird way depending on many factors. Universities, with the way fellowships are disbursed, do not automatically withhold taxes. At this point in the process, I haven’t figured out how much of the $33,000 I need to reserve back to pay my taxes quarterly or at the end of the year, but it’ll be a chunk. I wish this was a guideline included in the offer letter, for transparency.

Wait, so it doesn’t cover everything?

It covers the heavy stuff, as UIC does have out-of-state tuition for grad students (not every university does this). Only half of the student fees, which is a different cost. The total cost for my student fees this academic year, 2023-2024, is estimated to be $2,251. My fellowship covers most things, and is a competitive fellowship! The internet tells me the average cost of living in Chicago for one person is $2372 (Living Cost), which means my fellowship is doing pretty well for staying above the cost of living.

How do you plan to live on this fellowship?

At $2,750, and using the 30% of your income guideline, I would need to find an apartment or room for less than $825 (without utilities and without taxes taken out). If I wasn’t in a relationship with my incredible partner, Connor, I’ll be honest I’m not sure how I would be affording rent within my means, things to live, going to conferences, saving money, putting money into retirement, etc when moving to Chicago. I likely wouldn’t be able to live on my own within the city at that amount, however, I’ve been surprised by some of the affordability of certain Chicago areas. My partner is maintaining a full-time job while I go back to school, so we do have some more wiggle room!

Conferences & Scholarship Development

What purposes do conferences serve?

Conferences, in the academic world, are major hubs of information that may or may not be published yet. They are a chance to meet people in the field and stay up to date on what is upcoming in the field. If you are presenting, it’s a chance to share your scholarship and research with colleagues. This is a prime place to network and create long-lasting connections. This is also a way to share your insights in many different fields!

How much do conferences cost?

I’ve been lucky enough to present at many conferences since I began my graduate education in Fall 2019. The most recent presentation I gave was for NACADA in Region 6, which cost $325 for registration as a full-time professional non-member. I ended up getting the membership for $99 and then it “brought down” the cost of registration to $225. National conferences, like ACPA and NASPA, can cost about $500, with membership, solely for registration costs. As a graduate student, thankfully the cost for registration for conferences goes down to more like ~$200 range.

The higher education conferences I would ideally like to attend in the next year (early registration only, student membership):

  • ASHE 23: $135, located in Minneapolis, WI.
  • ACPA 24: $199, located in Chicago, IL. (Yay- no housing needed!)
  • NASPA 24: $160, located in Seattle, WA.
  • NACADA 24: $375, located in Pittsburgh, PA

These are the minimum costs regardless of if you present or not. Presenting does not waive any part of the registration cost. There are also, of course, housing and travel costs. Sometimes you can obtain institutional funding to attend conferences for professional development, but it’s not guaranteed.

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