Monday, August 29, 2005

There go my savings

Well, I just had a short chat with my advisor, and it's looking pretty likely that I won't be funded this term. *sigh* He wants to fund me, but he's running short of grant money. It looks like his choices are to (a) screw me, (b) screw a new student that started working for him this summer, or (c) screw a grant that's just starting, and pretty much destroy the likelihood that it will continue... it's a grant that needs to see demos after 18 months, and I'm working in a different area, and the new student is taking a little bit to get up to speed. Thus he really needs a second student on that grant that will be churning out grant-keeping demos.

I told him that I'm mentally and financially prepared for this situation (although I need to find out about health insurance). I think he feels a bit better, but still isn't happy about his options. There's a new grant in my area starting soon, but he doesn't know how soon.

He was also worried because I told him last week of my plans to buy a dishwasher. I told him not to let that affect his decision, because I had already decided I would get one whether I was funded or not. The dishwasher is an investment in my mental and physical well-being.

Wishing you a rosier financial outlook than mine...

3 comments:

Jessica said...

Youch. I'm thinking good thoughts that the new grant will be starting up soon!

(And enjoy your dishwasher. My in-laws got us one last December, and it's made our homelife so much more pleasant!)

Anonymous said...

This is where you should be thankful that you have savings! :) Especially since there are lots of people out there who don't, and for whom this would be much more devastating.

More incentive to buckle down and get your thesis done?

Btw...the word verification is a bit annoying, but I don't know if you have any control over that.

noricum said...

Yeah, I find the word verification annoying too. I turned it on because there's been some spamming of blogger comments. Turning the word verification on seems to have stopped them... either that, or I wasn't a particularly interesting target.

babblingb: I'm not American, and most fellowships require you to be American. I do have money I saved up, and so can get by. For a while, at least.