In a perfect world, I could give 100% guarantee to the second-year PhD student that he could move with me to the new U, and get his PhD from the old prestigious U. I understand his reasons for wanting his PhD from the institution that is more desirable abroad - I would be pushing for the same thing if I were in his place.
As an adviser I hesitate to guarantee this path because of money. I am unable to fund him until the end of his PhD using start up funds from new U. This is because new U. doesn't want to pay old U. tuition for a PhD candidate that goes to old U. - I get that. So student can be successfully funded via my NSF grant until he has put in 3.5 years toward his PhD. After that... his tuition and stipend must come from somewhere, and that where it gets messy. I worry that if I don't get another grant in the next year, then I will not be able to support my PhD candidate in his final year. New U. won't pay for him, so we'd have to go begging to old U. for emergency funding (even though I am no longer faculty there!).
So in other words, everything is peachy for the next year... and then money becomes an issue. The last thing I want to do is tell a student they have to leave with a Masters because of money. I'd like to think that all my grant writing will pay off soon, and then we can all get what we want. If the student transfers to new U., then I can fund him all the way through his PhD using new U.'s start-up funds.
It's all very confusing and neither university is entirely helpful about it. I have written so many emails and phoned so many folks that they are tired of hearing from me, and no answers have resulted. They all say, "Don't worry, you'll get a grant and it will be fine."
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9 comments:
maybe he will have to TA for a year or so?
At some point, doesn't this become your student's risk? There is a potential cost to the degree from old U --you've explained it to student, who is choosing to take that risk. I assume, since they are foreign, there is no hope for student loans or grants.
I'd probably have one more meeting. At that meeting I'd put the tuition total he'll probably need to finish the Ph.D. on a piece of paper and say, "do you have access to this much money, plus living expenses?. If not, then you need to seriously consider transfer to new U. If not, then you should seriously consider staying at old U and finding a new advisor -- either way, it's your decision. You cannot count on my ability to get a grant to cover this. I need your decision by _______"
When I moved from Old U to New U, one of things I very much regret not doing is keeping some sort of adjunct/grad faculty status at Old U. This would have made the transition easier for students, and it might also have saved me from losing all of the Old U contributions to my retirement fund. Old U would have been happy to do this for me, but it just didn't occur to me that I would need it or want it.
Have you made the situation clear to 2nd year student? Let him know the potential consequences and risks of his choice. If he chooses to go with OldU's name on the diploma then he is the one rolling the dice.
They don't want to tell you this, because they don't want you to think you don't need to get money for your student, but your old institution--which is where your student is matriculated--will never in a million years force your student out if you really truly don't get enough grant funds to pay for him. If it comes down to it, they will pay his tuition or continuing registration fee and his stipend. They'll moan and groan, but they'll do it.
Running out of money when a student is already 4-years deep into a phD sounds scary but it's really not the end of the world at my institution (a major public U).
It's happened to a number of students and every time they:
1. Get some sort of dissertation-year fellowship from the dept or university and finish up in the next year
2) TA for a while til the Prof gets another grant.
I've also seen arrangements where the student got covered by a collaborator's grant during a bridge period, but I'm vague on the details there.
For what little it's worth, if this were me I would gamble a little and keep the student with whom I've already invested a fair bit of time and built a rapport.
Would it be possible for your 2nd year student to transfer after a year if you can't fund him otherwise? I think that would be a fair solution. I also think that you are doing the right thing going through all this trouble for this student, you are probably messing up his life a lot more by moving than he is messing up your life and it was your decision.
The situation of not being sure where funds are going to come from for a current or potential student is not at all uncommon. You better get used to it. The people who are telling you not to worry are probably correct. You probably will get something funded. But if you don't, you don't. It happens. Just be sure the student is aware of the risk.
If you are not willing to accept the stress of finding funds for him, let him stay with the doppleganger. Asking him to switch institutions, given his career goals, is not acceptable.
Just do the best you can, given the situation. Surely you couldn't expect that all aspects of solving the 2-body problem would go completely smoothly? From what you've written so far, it sounds like pretty much everything else has worked out perfectly. You are a rare case. Please remember that and appreciate it!
If worst comes to worst couldn't the student transfer to New U. at year 4? They should know the risk and make the decision themselves...
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