If you plan to apply for an F31, F32, F99/K00 it's important to really think about & talk about money. This is not easy or comfortable - but it will save you a lot of stress later on. I'll explain in the next few tweets. Much of this may apply to T32s as well. /1
With an F32 or F31 (I'm less familiar with F99s, but am assuming they are similar), you get a stipend - and that money is set. For postdocs, you start out at level 0 most of the time, and then go up a level each year. So you get a bit more money each year, which is nice. /2
You get yearly institutional allowance-for postdocs that is $9,850 and for predocs it is $4,200. It is supposed to "defray" costs like for health insurance, travel, research supplies, etc. You also get money for tuition-for predocs it's $21,000 and for postdocs that is $4500. /3
(Notably at some/many institutions $4500 wouldn't even pay for one credit, so you may have to audit classes or do less expensive trainings/webinars. If you are a postdoc, you likely don't want to actually register for and take a class (and get graded!) anyway.) /4
That all seems like a good bit of money, but actual amount of money you can use varies. At some schools, your health insurance is paid for through your grant. If u have health insurance through other means (parents, partner, etc.) you get that money for your research. /5
If you don't have insurance through another source bc you are single or too old to be on your parents' insurance, etc., your institutional allowance will cover those costs. This means that you get less money to support your research and training. /6
The reason why the NIH wants your sponsor(s) to be senior and to be extremely well-funded is that these monies are meant to *defray* costs - not cover the entirety of your costs. /7
And in fact, the stipend is also to defray costs-and isn't really intended to be your full salary. "A stipend is provided as a subsistence allowance for Kirschstein-NRSA fellows ... /8
to help defray living expenses during the research training experience." Meaning to cover your expenses at a minimum level - not to be an ample amount to live on. /9
So, there are a few conversations to be had. First, you need to know your institution's policies for your institutional allowance - will it be used to cover your insurance, or can you use it for your research and training? /10
Second, is the amount of money you are getting enough to pay for your training, your research, your conference travel, etc. Will you be able to carry out your training plan with the monies you will be getting? If not, will your sponsor(s) be able to help with those costs? /11
Even if your institutional allowance isn't used for health insurance, it's possible the amt you get won't be sufficient to cover expenses-so think about this, make a budget, and have a discussion. Think too about things like laptops-if you need one, can the cost be covered? /12
Third, can your stipend be supplemented? This is where it gets tricky - your stipend cannot be supplemented with federal funds. I actually don't really understand this rule and am not sure it necessarily protects trainees. /13
So, if you have an F32 & are working on your sponsor's R01, you can't be paid from the R01-you can only have your salary supplemented through non-federal funds like a foundation grant, and intramural grant, discretionary funds, or directly from the institution where you work. /14
And some universities have minimum salaries for postdocs (and maybe predocs, I am less familiar with that) and automatically supplement your salary. This will soon be the case for Columbia, which is great. /15
So, you'll need to think about whether you can live on a stipend, and if not how you can supplement the funding. NIH has rules about how much extra you can work. You can also see if your sponsor has funds to supplement your salary - esp if the uni is in a high cost area. /16
For me this has been a huge challenge because the institution where I was when I applied for the F32 planned to pay for my health insurance. Unfortunately, Columbia's policy is to cover health insurance using F32 funds. /17
It was explained to me that health insurance is vital to being able to do research, so that is why research funds are used to cover it. Insurance costs have gone up every year leaving me with less and less money. /18
As my married/partnered colleagues have not had this issue (and thus have gotten far more money to support their research) - it has made me pretty darned cranky. But that isn't the point of this! /19
At any rate, my point is to make sure you really understand F funding, your institution's policies on funding, and your sponsor's ability to help out with costs. All of this may be even more important if you don't have other sources of income or someone to share expenses. /20
These aren't easy conversations - but if you go in knowing all of this you can have discussions with your sponsor(s) and try to figure out together how to make sure you get the training you need to successfully launch your career. /21 (fin)
I guess I would also say - if you are a faculty member considering sponsoring an NIH F, make sure you are ready to dedicate necessary funds or advocate for them to have ample funding for optimal training/research. And do the same for the salary - make sure it is livable.
