Wisdom of Former Grad Students

Since I’m reaching the end of my 5th year at UCR, I thought I would post a small note on hidden costs that I have been expected to cover out-of-pocket as a graduate student here. I’m focusing on two main issues: conference travel and filing fee status. This is just my experience but it may not be yours so feel free to add additional info. I hope that this will be helpful to other students as they navigate the finances of grad school.

1. Conference Travel

Presenting at conferences and making connections with others in your field is necessary for graduate students, especially if you plan to continue in academia. However, if you would like to travel as a graduate student to a conference, it will personally cost you money that UCR will not reimburse. Below I will lay out a few hidden costs that I wish I personally wish I had known I would encounter.

The main way a conference trip will personally cost you is through credit card interest. Between your ticket, hotel, conference fee, and other transportation, a conference trip can cost several thousand dollars. You will be asked to pay this money UP FRONT. Most students don’t have this much in their savings, and therefore put the money on their credit card, where it begins to accrue interest. UCR will NOT reimburse the interest on your card.

You will also just have a hard time in general getting reimbursed for your travel costs. To get reimbursed for the thousands that you’ve spent, you have generally two options: either have your supervisor cover the cost and/or apply for a UCR GSA travel grant. Your advisor will probably suggest a combination of both.

UCR travel grants are extremely restrictive and have very little payoff for the amount of effort they entail. Depending on your conference location, these grants range from $100-$900. To obtain this money (which likely covers less than half of your total costs), original, itemized credit card receipts (cash receipts not accepted) are required for every transaction, no matter how small. The receipts, along with proof of invitation AND attendance must be submitted within 7 working days of the last day of the conference, no exceptions. No food can be reimbursed with this grant, including conference dinners or refreshments.

For all this work, it is unlikely that you will actually be awarded the full amount of the grant. Those reviewing the grants are very willing to reject receipts if they are not up to their standards. I once took a taxi that only accepted cash and I had to beg them to accept the receipt. Another time I was not awarded a grant because the conference I attended took place during a summer school (they don’t reimburse summer schools). Furthermore, the money won’t appear in your account for months, all the while you will continue to pay interest on your credit card.

Getting reimbursement from your advisor is a comparatively simpler and smoother process. Receipts are not required for smaller purchases and they will probably cover your food costs. However, they cannot reimburse you for the money you lost by paying interest on your huge credit card bill. Overall, you’ve lost.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF:

Look into credit cards that have little to no interest for purchases below a certain limit. If your advisor will be helping to pay for the conference, suggest that they pay for the largest costs (flights or hotel) up front and you use the travel grant to cover other accumulated smaller costs (registration, taxis, etc.)

2. Filing fee status

When you approach graduation your advisor may encourage you to go on ‘filing fee status’. This will save them money on your tuition fees because for one quarter, and one quarter only, you will not be considered a student. Instead, you are an employee of the university and you will report your hours like other employees would. There are several problems for graduate students with this status that are not immediately obvious.

The first problem you will encounter is that you no longer have health insurance. You now have to purchase your insurance separately at a cost of $1265. It will come as no surprise that you are expected to pay this money up front. Depending on your method of reimbursement, you will once again run into the problem of accruing interest on your credit card that UCR will not repay.

Methods of reimbursement vary between departments and even between advisors. Oftentimes, advisors are not familiar with filing fee status and in general there is no cohesive approach to it. For me, the method of reimbursement was to report enough hours so that, by the end of the quarter, I had recouped the $1265. However, there’s a catch. You can only report enough hours to amount to $1265 before tax. So the student, depending on their tax rates, loses out on ~$120. When I brought this to the attention of my financial department, I was told that most students in other departments don’t even get reimbursed for their insurance while on filing fee status and that I should view my comparatively small loss as a ‘perk’. So not only are students likely forced to pay interest on the $1265 for the entire quarter, they are also expected to shell out an additional ~$120 due to taxes.

Losing student status also comes with other unanticipated pitfalls for graduate students. In terms of your student loans, you are considered ‘graduated’ and may be asked to begin repayments immediately. You are also not eligible for any student federal aid. While on filing fee, a federal aid package for students called the CARES act was enacted due to coronavirus. Due to my filing fee status, I missed out on the extra $500 that CARES gave my peers which would have been a great help at the time. In my experience and that of others I have spoken to, filing fee status has cost students money and benefitted only the advisor.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF:

If your advisor asks you to go on filing fee status, do not agree immediately. Take time to assess what this will mean for you. Look into your student loan policies and and other student-related programs (e.g campus childcare) to make sure you won’t be affected. Ask if your advisor will reimburse you for the extra costs.

While Lydia is totally right that Conference Travel Grants are rather restrictive, I would still recommend applying for them (when we can travel again), particularly if your advisor is short on money. They aren't perfect, but to my knowledge, if you meet the criteria you are virtually guaranteed to get it. Plus you can put it on fellowship applications and such as an award you received. More information can be found here: https://gsa.ucr.edu/ctg/

In addition to what Lydia said, there are other costs that grants (whether a Conference Travel Grant or grants your advisor has) cannot cover. A big one that comes to mind is organization membership costs, like the membership cost of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). That said, talk to your advisor about these costs. They may still be able to work something out to cover them. In my case, my advisor paid for my AAS membership out of his "overhead return," though admittedly I'm not sure what that is.

Also, if you need certain things to do your research, like a laptop or monitor, or if your advisor bought these things for you already and you need repairs / replacement items, talk to your advisor about those charges as well. Grants can cover these purchases.

Another important note on filing fee status is that you'll lose access to the SRC during the period you're on filing fee. The rationale is that you are not paying the fees, so you lose access. Filing fee status saves you a small amount of money due to reduced campus fees, but beyond that, the benefit is almost wholly to your advisor's.

When I went on filing fee, I was reimbursed for health insurance as a lump sum, rather than being told to artificially inflate my hours. This is an option, and it should reduce the amount of interest if you need to put the cost on a credit card. Don't be afraid to hound the Physics office to make sure you get your money quickly.

If you are traveling internationally, be sure you understand all of the rules (Fly America Act and Open Skies Agreement) when booking flights or, better yet, get the department to book the flight for you directly. While there are times you can you international air carriers, if you use them at the *wrong* times you risk not getting reimbursed for your flight at all!