Pennyless Student Stories

It's really simple...As it becomes a choice between feeding my baby and staying in Chicago...well there isn't really a choice is there? Smart people in their late twenties who work hard shouldn't have to worry about feeding their children.
- Jason B.


I've been following the discussions regarding funding and would like to congratulate those individuals that have kept up the good fight. Since all of this began the year I was set to leave for the job market, I was no longer being funded or located in Chicago proper. But I continue to pay registration fees while I submit my dissertation and complete my degree. Such is the gist of this email.

I think the students should ask the president, and the bursar's office, for leniency and payment plans that will NOT penalize students with late fees and other extra charges intended to get more money. Late fees here are to the tune of $50 to $100 dollars. And often times, these fees are expected to be paid in full, which is to say the whole $784 in one lump sum. My rent isn't that high, so I think the students should argue for this particular leniency.

best of luck....Si se puede!
- Jose Angel


I am an advanced Ph.D. candidate in the Divinity School. I don’t even know anymore how I fit on the SR-AR scale and think I am unlikely to see much benefit from these discussions. But there is absolutely no question that I have been delayed in my program by my need to support myself by alternative means. . .

Because I had previously been enrolled in the school, regardless of the fact that I received minimal financial support during that time, I learned in my first quarter that my package would last only two years and then would disappear. Living my first year in a 1-bedroom apartment, I spent all of my stipend on rent and had to dip into my savings for other living expenses, including health insurance. Things became difficult when my computer crashed in Spring 2003, and I had to purchase a new laptop. That summer I worked full-time as a bartender (4pm to 2am, 4 or 5 days/week). Though I intended to spend the summer studying for my qualifying exams, I was able to do very little due to my demanding work schedule and difficult hours. The following year I moved into a townhouse with 4 other students so that I could reduce my rent to about $500/month. I continued to bartend 2 nights/week through the academic year.

I have not received a stipend for the last four years. In 2004 I began working as a Resident Head for the Office of Undergraduate Student Housing. The job provides an apartment, a meal plan in the dining hall (where I argue it is very difficult to maintain a healthy diet), health care, and a small annual salary. In addition, for three years I worked every quarter as a Writing Intern in the Humanities Core (earning in 2005 the Karen Dinal Award for excellence in the teaching of writing to first-year students). I have now lectured in the Humanities Core for each of the last three quarters (though it is quite rare that someone would be hired to teach for more than one quarter in a year), and I was a lecturer in Fall 2007 in the Big Problems program. Between the Housing job and my TA and lectureships I have been able to eek out a very modest but comfortable sort of existence. I have been incredibly fortunate to get the jobs that I have.

It is difficult to count the hours that I work in the dorm and even for teaching. Between them, however, I think that I work at least full-time for the University doing jobs not associated with my degree program. I love the work, but the jobs do distract from my own research. The dorm job can be psychologically very taxing. In order to make the progress now necessary on my dissertation I feel strongly that I need to move out of my dorm living situation, but I simply don’t have the resources to pay for rent and utilities, food, health insurance – a value of probably close to $20,000. So I feel stuck by my financial situation. Moving out would require finding other work which will likely also require a great deal of time.

Only just recently have I completed my dissertation proposal. I now may be eligible for writing grants. It’s unfortunate that they are apparently available only for a single year, but I’m hopeful I might be able to get one.
- B. K.