Reply #18: I'm worried research funding in my field is going to dry up [View All]

[leftyclimber]

I have a year and a half to go on my Ph.D., and my department is scrambling for funding. My program coordinator was nearly in tears the last time I talked to him about the situation. We're bouncing from contract to contract right now (which on a continuing resolution is both ugly and dangerous) and there's no saying what next year will bring. It's not looking good right now.

I'm in the running for a very small nonprofit grant to cover some of the side expenses of my dissertation research, but it's going to be tight. I know they'll keep me on over any Masters' students, but it's still going to be a squeaker to get me by.

The way public university funding is going right now (I'm in what's primarily a land-grant focused field) I'm very concerned that even if we can get another 1.5 years of funding for me to finish I'll manage to get through the diss, then have zero job openings and tons o' student loans with no way to pay them.