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Too Frugal? Grad Life
By Anonymous Hero
from the Baltimore department
Posted Tue Dec 31, 2002 at 08:00:44 AM PDT
I'm a graduate student at a private university in Baltimore. Last time the JMM were in Baltimore the department paid the fees for all graduate students that wanted to attend. However, this year we have a new chair and he's unwilling to pay the $35 fee per grad. student for attending. Please give me any opinions on this matter. Thanks.

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Too Frugal? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] It depends... (none / 0) (#1)
by Anonymous Hero on Tue Dec 31, 2002 at 08:05:08 AM PDT

As a person who attended graduate school in a location far from every January conference, I really don't see the point of being disturbed by this. If we wanted to attend the meeting we had to pay for travel and registration ourselves, which often exceeded $400 in total. The only exception is that if you gave a talk, the department would provide a few pennies to help out with cost. On the other hand, travel funds were available from other sources on campus, though it was pretty competitive. Check with the dean of the graduate school or student government to see if they will pay.

Hmm, in short, the department should pay if you're giving a talk or interviewing for jobs and you should be grateful that the cost is only $35.


[new] Waa, waa (none / 0) (#2)
by SeminoleNo1 on Wed Jan 01, 2003 at 01:47:23 PM PDT

Are you required to attend? If not, waa, waa.

But if you are required to attend, then and only then you have a case.





[new] chump change (none / 0) (#5)
by Emil Volcheck on Sun Jan 05, 2003 at 10:36:47 PM PDT

A $35 registration fee is small change. It would be an excellent idea for the Chair or Graduate Vice-Chair to find some funds to send several grad students, but the fee is so inexpensive that any grad should be able to come up with the funds themselves. The Joint Math Meetings are an important event in the math community, and I think Departments should encourage grads to attend when it is local. I have to believe that a Chair could find US$350 to send 10 grads if he/she really wanted to.


[new] San Antonio (none / 0) (#6)
by Anonymous Hero on Tue Jan 07, 2003 at 08:50:31 PM PDT

The first Jan Joint Meetings I attended were in San Antonio, TX. At the time I was a grad student in Austin which is about a 90 min drive away. I drove a car load of grad students down and as I recall, we didn't get any funding for the meeting registration. Granted even a 30 min drive to the next burrow does put a slightly different spin on things. Of course since you don't have to worry about logding, $35 seems a pretty meager amount (even the point of view of a poor starving graduate student). Knowing the local sceen, you could even volunteer to take a few people out on the town and perhaps get a free dinner or two which would re-coop the loss.

Out of curiousity, is your institution doing anything special promotion or anything else in connetion with the meetings being in town? I found it very useful to have gone to the San Antonio meetings when I went a few years later to interview.



Too Frugal? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
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