Figures in a recently released 2007 GSC survey show that many graduate students feel they are in a financial pinch.

The survey revealed that while student housing costs increased by 27 percent and health insurance costs increased by 39 percent from the 2003-2004 to 2007-2008 school years, the minimum stipend for graduate students at Stanford increased by only 16 percent.

According to a 2008-2009 Guide for New Graduate Students published on the registrar’s Web site, annual total living costs for a single graduate student fall at $21,867 for three quarters or $7,289 for one quarter.

Some graduate students also question why the stipend levels for graduate students increase slowly when financial aid for undergraduates has recently undergone a giant increase.

“The University has to look at the big picture when managing funds,” Graduate Student Council (GSC) Co-President George Bloom said. “They can’t arbitrarily raise stipends. That would ultimately affect the number of graduate students admitted.”

“The funding mechanisms at Stanford are complicated too,” he added. “The money for graduate stipends comes from a completely different pot of funds than for undergraduate financial aid.”

Over 40 percent of graduate students consider graduate school to be a financial risk while an even higher percentage — 60 percent — consider finances stressful.

To cope with finances, about 23 percent of Ph.D. students receive outside funding, while 30 percent have a non-research job, research assistant (RA) job or teaching assistant (TA) position to cover their expenses.

“The annual adjustment in the minimum RA/TA salary has tracked very closely with the estimated living expenses for a single student living on campus,” explained Ann George, assistant dean of research and of graduate policy, who works closely with the Financial Aid Office to develop the annual financial aid budget based on graduates’ living expenses.

“After this salary is set, the various graduate programs use that information to set their own stipend levels,” she added.

Under the “recommendations” section of the GSC survey results, the GSC suggests that “the University re-evaluate the method used to determine the minimum stipend to ensure that the minimum stipend is sufficient to cover the basic needs of graduate students.”

The GSC also recommends that the University increase the availability of summer research funding for graduate students.

Financial constraints, however, are the tightest for international students, who constitute 35 percent of the graduate population, according to the GSC survey. Since international students cannot work outside the University due to the restrictions on their student visas, their main source of income comes from their graduate stipends and any RA or TA jobs they can procure.

Some international students also raised alternate financial concerns such as the lack of credit history for foreign students.

“International students don’t have a credit history when they arrive in the United States,” said Euan Robertson, a graduate student in Economics from England. “It takes a year to get a social security number and credit card. With no credit, it’s hard to get things like an apartment.”

Lan Wei, a Chinese graduate student in Electrical Engineering, says that she supplements her stipend with fellowships, summer jobs and TA positions.

“These incomes can cover all the living expenses for a single student,” she said. “There won’t be much left. But for people who have families, then the finances are very tight.”

The University, however, does screen graduate candidates to ensure that they have the financial resources to study abroad.

“In order to get their visa, the international student has to provide a ‘Financial Resources Certification’ to Stanford,” George said. “[This is] to show that they have enough money to pay their tuition and living expenses as estimated by the Financial Aid Office.”

“Any student, U.S. or international, with a real financial hardship can talk with their own department or with the Financial Aid Office about the options for help,” she said.