Witz a bing-bang-boom-boom-bang.
Bad day today.
It started off badly. Checked my email and found out that I didn't get a fellowship I, and several department members, thought I was a shoe-in for. Back to the drawing board, both career-wise and financially. Being an associate instructor is pretty much a crappy deal, compared with being a research assistantship. You get paid three grand for the summer, which, superficially, is not all that much less than a ra-ship, because the ra-ship's only $3600. But the ra-ship gets doled out in three separate installments of $1200 a month, which means that your tax withholding is not that much, for me it was like 20 bucks. In addition, however, an ra-ship only gets FICA-deducted (this stupid stupid thing where if you're not enrolled, you have to pay roughly ten percent of your income into a pre-tax retirement account) for TWO paychecks - $2400, because the third paycheck arrives when you're enrolled. So that's only a pre-tax takeaway of $200 for the summer, compared with $300, because for teaching a class you only get ONE paycheck, and it arrives when you're not enrolled. Add that to the tax withholding on a $2700 paycheck, and we're talkin' big bucks here. I did some calculations, and if I were to get an RA-ship, it would be something in the range of $3400 for the summer. Doing an associate instructorship is more like $2400. Bites. I'm of course going to do it, because it looks good on the ol' CV, but I'm going to be eating franks and beans basically all summer. (Sorry for the technical financial language.)
Then I realized I've become addicted to this video game, courtesy of Math Rock. It's called 'N', and it's basically a clone of Lode Runner. I can't stop. It's eating away at my soul. Check it out, if you get a chance.
It started off badly. Checked my email and found out that I didn't get a fellowship I, and several department members, thought I was a shoe-in for. Back to the drawing board, both career-wise and financially. Being an associate instructor is pretty much a crappy deal, compared with being a research assistantship. You get paid three grand for the summer, which, superficially, is not all that much less than a ra-ship, because the ra-ship's only $3600. But the ra-ship gets doled out in three separate installments of $1200 a month, which means that your tax withholding is not that much, for me it was like 20 bucks. In addition, however, an ra-ship only gets FICA-deducted (this stupid stupid thing where if you're not enrolled, you have to pay roughly ten percent of your income into a pre-tax retirement account) for TWO paychecks - $2400, because the third paycheck arrives when you're enrolled. So that's only a pre-tax takeaway of $200 for the summer, compared with $300, because for teaching a class you only get ONE paycheck, and it arrives when you're not enrolled. Add that to the tax withholding on a $2700 paycheck, and we're talkin' big bucks here. I did some calculations, and if I were to get an RA-ship, it would be something in the range of $3400 for the summer. Doing an associate instructorship is more like $2400. Bites. I'm of course going to do it, because it looks good on the ol' CV, but I'm going to be eating franks and beans basically all summer. (Sorry for the technical financial language.)
Then I realized I've become addicted to this video game, courtesy of Math Rock. It's called 'N', and it's basically a clone of Lode Runner. I can't stop. It's eating away at my soul. Check it out, if you get a chance.
posted by dd0031 at 4:22 PM
2 Comments:
Oh hell, why don't I just post the link here?
Sorry, there, Toppy, but that's what happens when you choose a career strictly based on the money.
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