Articles
Guides for grad school finances
Plain-language guides to stipends, cost of living, taxes and funding. Figures carry the same source labels as the rest of the site.
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How to File Your Taxes as a Grad Student: A Step-by-Step Guide
A plain-language walkthrough of filing a federal return on a grad school stipend: what's taxable, what your 1098-T means, which credits apply, and the mistakes that cost people money.
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International Grad Students and U.S. Taxes: Form 8843, the 1040-NR, and Tax Treaties
How F-1 and J-1 graduate students are taxed in the U.S.: nonresident status, the forms you must file even with no income, treaty benefits, withholding, and when the rules change.
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State Taxes When You Move for Grad School: Part-Year Returns, Local Taxes, and What to File
How state and local income taxes work when you relocate for a PhD or master's: residency, part-year returns, no-tax states, city wage taxes, and the withholding fixes to make in your first month.
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Beyond Your Department: A Directory of External Fellowships Worth Applying To
Why external fellowships are worth the application effort, and where to start looking regardless of your field.
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Building an Emergency Fund on a Grad Stipend (Yes, It's Possible)
A realistic, small-scale approach to emergency savings that works within stipend-level income rather than pretending it doesn't exist.
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Can Grad Students Have a Side Job? What Your Funding Terms Actually Say
Why funded grad students should check their appointment terms before taking on outside work, and what's usually allowed.
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Credit Building 101 for Broke Grad Students
How to build credit on a modest, irregular stipend income, and the mistakes that quietly damage a score without an obvious warning.
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Grad Housing Math: How Much of Your Stipend Should Rent Eat?
A realistic rent-to-stipend framework for grad students, since the standard 'rent is 30% of income' rule breaks down on a stipend budget.
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Grad Student Grocery Guide: Aldi Meals for About $35–40 a Week
Real, filling meals a graduate student can build on a stipend, sourced almost entirely from Aldi.
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How to Get Your Conference Trip Paid For (Even With a Thin Budget)
The layered approach to funding conference travel as a grad student, from department funds to often-overlooked external sources.
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How to Vet a PhD Advisor Before You Commit (Not After)
The specific questions and sources that reveal advisor mentorship style before you're locked into a lab for years.
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How to Write a Graduate School Personal Statement That Doesn't Read Like Everyone Else's
A practical structure for the personal statement, with the mistakes that make admissions committees skim past an application.
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Multiple Offers, One Decision: A Framework for Picking Your Grad Program
A structured way to compare offers that weighs advisor fit and funding as heavily as program prestige.
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Postdoc Pay by the Numbers: What You'll Actually Earn After the PhD
How postdoc salaries compare to grad stipends, industry entry-level pay, and cost of living, with the tradeoffs laid out plainly.
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Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Academics: What Actually Counts
How PSLF applies to university employment, what qualifies as a payment, and the paperwork mistakes that cost people years of progress.
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Should Grad Students Even Think About Retirement Savings? Yes, and Here's Why
Why starting retirement savings on a stipend, even a small amount, has an outsized long-term effect thanks to compounding, and how fellowship income complicates IRA eligibility.
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The Grad Student Health Insurance Cheat Sheet
What's usually included in a university student health plan, what commonly isn't, and the questions to ask before you need care.
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The Quarterly Tax Deadline No One Warns Grad Students About
How quarterly estimated taxes work for fellowship-funded students: who has to pay, the deadlines, how to calculate and pay, safe harbors that avoid penalties, and how to avoid an April surprise.
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Time Management for Graduate Students: Coursework, Research, and TA Duties Without Burning Out
A realistic system for balancing the three competing demands of graduate school, built around the fact that research time doesn't protect itself.
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Yes, You Can Negotiate Your Grad School Offer — Here's How
What's actually negotiable in a grad school funding offer, what isn't, and how to ask without souring the relationship before you've started.
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Yes, Your Stipend Is (Probably) Taxable: A Grad Student's Guide to Fellowship Income
Why fellowship and stipend income is taxable even without a W-2, which parts you can exclude, how it's reported, and what it means for withholding, estimated taxes, and your return.