PhD Student Tales Stipend Survey
How much are PhD students actually paid? PhD Student Tales (@PhDStudentTales on X, Hopeful Ph.D Student on Substack) is building a free, crowdsourced stipend database to help current and future PhD students compare pay, benefits, and cost of living.
Takes about 2–3 minutes.
Your privacy:
- This survey is anonymous. We do not collect names, email addresses, or sign-ins.
- Results are only published in aggregate (averages, ranges, charts). Individual responses are never published.
- A group (for example, a university + field combination) is only reported if it has at least 5 responses, so people in small programs can't be identified.
- Please don't include identifying details (names, lab names, advisor names) in free-text answers.
Submitting means you agree to have your anonymous answers included in aggregated results.
Section 1: Your program
University / institution
*
Full name, e.g., "University of Michigan".
Degree field
*
Please Select
Biological / Life Sciences
Biomedical / Medical Sciences
Chemistry
Physics / Astronomy
Earth / Environmental Sciences
Mathematics / Statistics
Computer Science / Data Science
Engineering
Psychology / Neuroscience
Social Sciences
Economics / Business
Humanities
Education
Public Health
Other
Country
*
Please Select
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Netherlands
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark
Australia
India
China
Japan
Singapore
Other
State / province / region
e.g., "California" or "Ontario".
City
Used for cost-of-living comparisons.
Program year
*
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7+
Recently graduated (within the last 2 years)
Section 2: Pay and funding
Annual stipend before taxes
*
Annual gross amount, e.g., 38000. If you're paid monthly, multiply by 12.
Currency
*
Please Select
USD
CAD
GBP
EUR
CHF
SEK
DKK
AUD
INR
CNY
JPY
SGD
Other
Primary funding source
*
Teaching assistantship (TA)
Research assistantship (RA) / PI grant
University fellowship
External fellowship (e.g., NSF GRFP, NIH F31)
Government / national scholarship
Industry / employer sponsorship
Mix of sources
Unfunded / self-funded
Not sure
Other
Section 3: Benefits, fees, and work
Which benefits does your program provide?
*
Health insurance (fully covered)
Health insurance (partially covered)
Dental
Vision
Tuition waiver / remission
Paid parental leave
Paid sick / vacation leave
Retirement contributions
Housing subsidy or guaranteed housing
Childcare support
Conference / travel funds
Relocation allowance
None of these
Other
Approximately how much do you pay in university fees per year (out of pocket)?
In the same currency as your stipend. Enter 0 if none.
Is extra teaching or RA work required beyond your research to receive your stipend?
*
No
Yes, some semesters
Yes, every semester
Not sure
If yes, about how many hours per week?
Under 5
5–10
11–15
16–20
More than 20
Section 4: Your take
How satisfied are you with your overall compensation?
*
Very dissatisfied
1
2
3
4
Very satisfied
5
1 is Very dissatisfied, 5 is Very satisfied
Anything else you'd like to share?
e.g., cost of living, summer funding, raises. Please don't include names or identifying details.
Submit
Should be Empty: