Judging by your email address (not posted), you presumably attend a university in New Jersey. I’m not sure whether budgets are larger there (you don’t have Voldemort running your state, for example), but things are tight here. And I’ve been turned down for burger-flipping jobs for being overqualified.

Besides, I need to cover expenses between now and when classes start. I have to move, after all. I really don’t want to live with my dad again; not only was it a miserable experience, it was also a 70-mile trip to campus, each way, 5 days a week.

I’ll address your final three paragraphs in another post.

Example: A graduate assistant is registered for 9 graduate credit hours for spring 2008. In-state tuition including matriculation and student fees totals $2475.99. Of that amount, $2055.06 is tuition (matriculation fee) and the remaining $420.93 is student fees. The graduate assistant is responsible for the student fees total of $420.93 The University will provide the $2055.06 tuition fee portion. The University’s portion (tuition matriculation fee) is approximately 80% of the total cost of attendance.

By the way, I’m still paying off about $9,000 (of about $13,000) in student loans from my undergraduate studies. It’ll be deferred once I return to school, but “didn’t ever pay a dime” is far from the truth in my case.

I got here through an Erfworld link, because it caught my eye: it’s not often that one sees a prospective PhD student looking for donations. The reason mainly being what Lacey said: most PhD programs are discriminating in their acceptance, because they pay for their students’ tenure: after all, what the students publish reflects on their institution.

“Assistantships come with stipends of $15k-20k, according to the department. That’s minimum wage at the low end, and I’m paying more than half of that in rent right now.”

I currently am making ~$26K from my teaching assistantship, and paying rent of over a thousand a month. I still have enough money for food, gas, hanging out with friends. I just don’t have enough to bing spend on movies, video games, and take out food. My point is that it can work on those assistantships, and when that fails, there’s always part time, even if it’s flipping burgers at the local McDonalds.

I say this being a current PhD student myself, as well as being the child of two PhD graduates who have gone on to be Professors (meaning that when I was looking into a research career field, I had plenty of advice on how the game “works”). And from that perspective, your site gives me the impression (either valid or not) that you don’t really know what a PhD is about. You cite your grandfather as a reason for wanting to achieve it — but what are your interests? What fields would you be doing research in, and what areas within those specific fields? Do you have an advisor at USF willing to take you on?

Most of all, do you have a passion for research? Getting a PhD only means something if you don’t have it: all it is, is a license to do research. What getting your PhD is about, is learning how to do research, how to ask questions, and how to interpret the answers. It’s not an academic badge of honor that smart people get to have, because they’re smart.

I apologize if I come off a bit harsh, but I want to emphasize that your site doesn’t sell to me the idea that you want a PhD for the right reasons. And, as a PhD student on a stipend myself, it doesn’t quite make sense to me how the assistantships you describe aren’t enough: yes, they’re minimum wage, but it can make a living. You obviously won’t get rich, but you can certainly live off it (especially if you don’t pay rent, ie, living with your father).

There are assistantships, fellowships, starships, and probably other kinds of -ships available. I’m working on finding one. However, there are expenses up front that I’m dealing with, including the possibility of being out of work for two months and the cost of moving all my junk to a new place (plus the cost of said place).

Also, the assistantships at USF apparently don’t cover 100% of tuition, so I’d still have to pay some out of pocket, or take out exorbitant loans.

[Update: Just to clarify, assistantships do cover 100% of tuition; they just don't cover student fees (which are about 20% of the "tuition bill").]

Just know that the site is by no means in its final form right now. In fact, I intend to change things as the whim strikes me; maybe I’ll hit upon the secret to getting a hojillion dollars in donations, and maybe I won’t. The site will grow with time.

The donations I’ve received so far cover the cost of setting up the site, so at this point I can’t end up any worse off than I was before. Every cent helps. That being said, I’m not trying to extract donations from people who can’t afford them. If all you can afford to give is advice, then I’ll gladly accept that advice.

Thanks for the comment.

Or draw doodles for donations, sing songs, write out interesting bits of your life story (your grandfather seems like a wonderful and inspiring person, but he’s not you). Have silly interviews with friends on how they know you and whether they think you should go to grad school. Interview your mother. Post pictures of your grandparents and yourself as a little kid. (either the embarrassing kind or the kind people go ‘awwww’ over) Make this SO interesting that you yourself wonder who this great guy is and how you could help him out.

(That said I’m broke and can give nothing except advice. Best of luck in your endeavors.)