Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

The Implications of a Fully Funded Scholarship

22 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this short segment, the speaker recounts a graduate‑school friend who, despite receiving a relatively generous stipend of about $11‑$12 k per year, struggled to cover living expenses and resorted to accumulating debt on six or seven credit cards. The friend’s plan was to rely on a future high‑salary job to pay off the high‑interest debt, and while he ultimately succeeded, the speaker warns that this strategy is risky because credit‑card interest rates are among the highest legally allowed. The speaker advises against depending on such debt to bridge stipend shortfalls and promotes a free dissertation‑help community for additional support.

Chapters

I had a friend in graduate school. We were making huge stipends back 100 years ago, and it was maybe $11,000 a year, $12,000 a year was our stipend. And he couldn't make ends meet on that. So what his goal was, or what he did in order to get by, was he had 6 or 7 credit cards and he just started piling up his credit card debt. And his philosophy was, look, if I make it, I'm going to have a good salary and I'll pay these off. And if I don't make it, well, I'm going to be digging ditches and I'll declare bankruptcy. So, you know, he actually made it, so, and he paid them off. But there's a lot of time and effort and money that goes into this. While this individual graduated and got a good job and was able to pay off his debt, I wouldn't recommend his approach because, you know, credit card debt is some of the highest legal interest rates you can be charged. Join our free dissertation help community and we'll provide as much support as possible.