Thoughts on the economic decision to pursue a PhD, inspired by a post about when academics should retire and the usual “broke grad student” jokes. Cover art inspired by “The Tiger King” on Netflix, but the meme applies to grad school too.

Money matters (to me)

**A PI’s message in 2077 from the game Fallout 4.**

A little background: my dad has been an entrepreneur his entire life, so grew up exposed to business. To me, the most enticing part was the freedom that comes with owning your own business. I’m also a huge hiphop fan, where money is constantly on one’s mind. In my humble opinion, this mentality clashes very much with the academic lifestyle.

Being a “scientist” is a really long, really weird, really hard process. Let’s define a scientist as someone who leads a research team at a university (this is a bad definition). To achieve this today, you need 8-12 years of school (an undergraduate degree and a doctoral degree) BUT with a PhD you’re still considered a trainee (albeit with the highest degree possible). So you continue to train for another 3-8 years as a postdoctoral researcher, after which you can apply for a faculty position, and if you’re in the lucky few %, get an assistant professorship. Its been >10 years since you started on this career path, and now you’re officially an early career researcher (ECR) that will either be permanently hired or instantly fired in 7-9 years (tenure track).

Difficulty aside, the money is good, right? Not necessarily. PhD stipends vary wildly but lets take my ~$38,000/year stipend. This is definitely lower than the mean income for a 28 year old ($43,000), but lets consider the median (income isn’t normally distributed) which is $36,000. At this point, grad school isn’t a bad idea, until you consider the high cost of living in Los Angeles. The situation gets worse if you have any debt from undergraduate or an MS program.

Fine, grad school might be a financial wash, but what about after you get a PhD? Being a postdoctoral researcher must come with a big salary bump, right? Again, not necessarily. Lets consider a postdoc in a wet biomedical lab, since other fields (preventative medicine, computer science) pay higher with vastly different requirements (from what I’ve been told by PhD students in these programs). The NIH postdoc salary is based on experience, so you’re looking at ~$50,000 starting, barring a few situations. Again, what this means to you will depend on location. If you end up getting a postdoctoral position on the west coast, you’ll make a little more (~$54,000) since the NIH recognizes the higher cost of living, but you still might consider getting a roommate (in your late 20s/early 30s).

What about after landing a faculty position, surely professors are making bank? If you’re fortunate enough, the answer is sort of. The American Association of University Professors 2019 report puts the average* salary at ~$100,000. End analysis here, and you could make a good case its worth it. Keep thinking about it though, and an academic career is a serious financial decision. The traditional academic path is moving at every point in your career transition, so after about 12-15 years, you might be able to afford to buy a home without worrying about having to move for the next phase of your career. Unfortunately, having a family is going to make everything more difficult, and again, any debt is going to stretch you thinner. This completely ignores 1) the difficulties in research (project, publications, grants) that are required for career advancement, 2) the variability of different fields, 3) any and all financial problems, 4) the amount of hours you work.

Or lets define a scientist as someone who does science. You could pursue an industry position as a scientist after graduate school (>$70,000 average* salary) where you trade in job security (averaged over an entire successful academic career) for earlier career advancement (timeline wise). Alternatively, you could pursue a staff scientist position in academia. This is distinct from a postdoc and pays better, although way harder to find.

A common argument you’ll hear is that you should not pursue an academic career if your only focus/concern is making money, which I won’t disagree with. However, can you put a price on doing what you love? In academia, its distasteful to speak too openly about salary, but I think it’s a conversation to be had. How much are you willing to sacrifice financially pursuing an academic position? Graduate students start on the academic track because that’s what graduate school is, so opting out of academia and making the switch to industry isn’t easy.

In any case, I’m not advocating for or against either track. I just don’t think academia should get a pass on a cold-hard cost benefit analysis. I also see a lot of broke grad student jokes (most recently when I was playing Fallout 4) but remember: a joke isn’t a joke if you never get serious.

*median is difficult** to find

**these are 5 minute google numbers