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Disorientation - Princeton 101 Resources for incoming (and current) graduate workers at Princeton on how to navigate graduate life at the University and beyond it, collected by current union members are organizers. A series of pictures of graduate students holding signs stating "I signed my union card!", "United we bargain, divided we beg", "Power & protection for grads", and "Have you signed your card?" Below is a cut-out of PGSU's card launch rally in Scudder Plaza, showing the crowd ahead of the rally.

Welcome

Welcome to the Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU) “Disorientation Guide”! This guide is meant to offer tried-and-true recommendations to new graduate workers. As colleagues who’ve joined up to improve our working conditions, we believe in the importance of sharing resources.

Princeton is an exciting place to do research. But the graduate experience is also shaped by top-down power relations and by structural inequalities that tend to reveal themselves to us, inconveniently, in times of personal difficulty. It’s then that we realize that few of our rights as graduate workers are formalized. Similarly, we have limited access to resources that reflect our interests in an unbiased way.

The spirit in which we offer this guide also drives our fight to achieve a say in our working conditions at Princeton. In unionizing at Princeton, we’ll be joining our peers at Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, MIT, Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth, and many other institutions. You can learn more about our efforts at the back of this booklet. Most importantly, you can join us in demanding an election by signing your union card here.

While we’ve tried to cover as much ground as we can, we don’t claim that this guide is comprehensive. It’s intended to gather relevant and important information and guide the reader to essential resources. However, much of it is incomplete! If you catch things we may have missed or gotten wrong, or would like to add ideas to share with colleagues, please contact us at askpgsu@gmail.com.

This semester, we’ll be continuing our programming for incoming and current graduates. Activities will include reading groups, Union 101 events, social hours, and political action to improve our working conditions. You can check out our website and social media. Contact us if you’d like to organize with us!

Table of Contents

Welcome        1

What’s On?        4

Student and Community Organizations        4

Reading Groups/Workshops Around Campus        6

Things to Do Around Princeton        7

Institutional Resources and their Issues        11

How to Navigate Princeton        14

How do I find housing?        14

How do I get to campus?        18

How do I find an advisor?        21

How do I get paid?        23

How do I do my taxes?        27

How do I access healthcare?        31

What do I need to know about my visa?        36

What if I experience harassment?        44

How can we organize for a better Princeton?        47

What is PGSU?        47

What’s On

Research and teaching are fundamentally cooperative and collaborative forms of work, whether it feels like toil or play–whether it’s at a lab bench, in a library, or in a classroom. Most of us come to Princeton hoping to find the sort of colleagues with, and from whom, we can learn.

Princeton offers resources, but it’s also shaped by us graduate workers. Many of us are actively creating research, discussion, and other social associations of our own. And then there’s the town! Oh, the town. Below is an emphatically non-exhaustive list of self-organized organizations, reading groups, and advice on events and spaces in Princeton.

Student and Community Organizations

Student Organizations

In the Community

Princeton Mutual Aid

Princeton Mutual Aid is a mutual aid organization that serves the community of Princeton, NJ and is involved in the redistribution of resources and the building of community and communal power. The organization is involved in numerous initiatives, primarily the maintenance of a network that connects people from across various Princeton communities, from the university-affiliated to those from the more vulnerable undocumented and housing-insecure communities in town, working with grassroots organizations such as Unidad Latina en Acción NJ. Princeton Mutual Aid is also involved in tenant organizing, conducts regular food distributions, and applies pressure at the municipal level for various initiatives (such as affordable housing). To learn more, visit https://www.princetonmutualaid.com and to get involved email tigerpackmutualaid@gmail.com 

Unidad Latina en Acción NJ

Unidad Latina en Acción NJ (ULANJ) is a grassroots organization working to organize migrant communities. ULANJ focuses on issue campaigns broadly related to migrant rights, with campaigns on topics like worker’s rights and safety, or migrant criminalization by law enforcement from local to federal levels. They organize a yearly May Day Rally that many local organizations participate in. To get involved, email info@unidadlatinanj.org.

Reading Groups/Workshops Around Campus

  1. IHUM Reading Groups
  2. Latin América and the Caribbean Workshop
  3. South Asia Graduate Workshop (contact PIIRS South Asia Studies)
  4. South Asia Translation Reading Group (contact PIIRS South Asia Studies)
  5. Gender & Sexuality Studies Reading Group 
  6. Disability Studies Working Group
  7. Colonialism and Imperialism Workshop (see CCH page for this)
  8. Social Theory: Theorizing the Human Reading Group (contact CCH staff for details)
  9. Committee for the Study of Late Antiquity Book Club (see their website)
  10. Race before Modernity Book Club
  11. Humanities Council Working Groups, Lectures and Events
  12. Princeton Public Library Book Groups
  13. Princeton American Indian and Indigenous Studies Working Group (see here)

Want to see yours listed? Let us know at askpgsu@gmail.com!

Things to Do Around Princeton

We’ve put together a small sampling of the many places to go and things to do in Princeton. This list is by no means complete: if you have a special spot you like to go around Princeton, please share it with us at askpgsu@gmail.com!

Cafes, Baked Goods, and Ice Creams

Groceries/Quick Needs

Quick (relatively cheap) Bites

Bars and Alcohol

Note that most restaurants in town — basically everywhere not on this list — are BYOB. You can buy alcohol from Public (on Witherspoon), Varsity Liquor or the Ivy Inn (on Nassau Street) in town to take to these places, often without a bottle charge.

Things to Do Without a Car or Bike

Things To Do With A Car Or Bike

Institutional Resources and their Issues

Princeton boasts of its institutional resources, but quantity does not necessarily equal quality. We highlight some of the particular institutional organizations at the university that don’t necessarily fit neatly in any particular box on campus, but are nonetheless good to know about.

University Health Services

University Health Services (UHS) are located in the McCosh infirmary just south of Frist (different to McCosh Hall opposite the University chapel). It's a convenient one-stop shop for basic medical appointments and is fully integrated within our health insurance so you won’t have to pay! Especially for international students who are unfamiliar with the mess that is private healthcare, McCosh saves a lot of worry and stress. See our Healthcare section for more details.

Public Safety

The Department of Public Safety is the university’s campus police force. They maintain links with the local police force and as of a new policy in 2016 each Public Safety car now carries a firearm. Public Safety presents a fluffy image to many students but has a track record of harassing BIPOC students and making campus an inhospitable space for them. In this, Public Safety should be considered and critiqued as a police force and we encourage all of our supporters to not call them to resolve problems as their involvement only increases the risk of violence. The SPEAR Prison Abolition group and Mercer County for Abolition are two local organizations with resources for understanding how the patterns of policing in Princeton and Mercer County uphold white supremacy.

Housing and Real Estate Office

The housing situation at Princeton is a bit of a mess. Off-campus students will pay prices that are almost as high as New York while on-campus housing is only guaranteed for the first two years of your program. Graduate students have been kicked out of their houses with little warning. There is no facility to ensure LGBT-friendly roommates in the random assignments and the housing bureaucracy is rigid and change-resistant. Frustratingly, they often ignore emails and voicemails and the only way to get to them is by going in person to their office in New South. Housing has long been a touchpoint of graduate student activism in Princeton and we expect this to continue. Working as a Resident Graduate Student (RGS) in an undergraduate college can provide low-priced housing and a meal plan, but entails duties such as providing study breaks, advising, and care for undergraduate students. See more in our section: How do I find housing?

Teaching & learning resources

Libraries

Princeton has several campus libraries, but Firestone Library, next to the University Chapel and East Pine, is particularly well-stocked and its librarians are incredibly helpful. Typically the best way to navigate the library’s bureaucracy if you need something special is through one of the subject librarians. There is also an overwhelmingly large collection of fiction, ebooks, audiobooks, and independent film available through Firestone, which is available for recreational use. Lewis Library, another subterranean library beneath Fine Hall, is also a great place for finding science-related scholarship. Finally, the Princeton Public Library, while not affiliated with the university, is a lovely study space. You can get a free library card if you’re a Princeton municipal resident (valid for three years) or a non-resident student at Princeton (valid for one year)!

The Writing Center

A helpful resource: Consult with a trained fellow as you write and get feedback on your written work. Graduate students can schedule 80-minute appointments with a specific writing center tutor in their subject area. Take advantage of this resource and consider working there as a tutor (currently pays $20/hour), as they take new fellows annually and need graduate students from all fields. It’s a great way to earn extra cash and learn some pedagogical techniques. See their website for more details and to schedule appointments (all online because of COVID).

The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning

An institutional resource that many graduate students only interact with when doing their first-time teacher training, but which holds pedagogically-oriented events throughout the year. It also provides jobs to interested graduate students. They also host a list of other teaching opportunities in the area.

Prison Teaching Initiative

PTI is an organization housed by McGraw which offers teaching opportunities in New Jersey prison facilities. The classes in state institutions are in partnership with Raritan Valley Community College and NJ-STEP, while classes in the federal penitentiary in Fort Dix are accredited by Mercer County Community College. Classes are typically taught by a small group of instructors and run concurrently with the Princeton semester. Teaching with PTI provides a great opportunity to work with bright, eager students and learn about the issues affecting incarcerated people. You must have a master’s degree (or have passed your general exams) to teach with PTI. That said, they also run tutoring programs that you can participate in as soon as you get to Princeton and your DOC clearance is complete! PTI also offers graduate fellowships. The staff behind the program are extraordinarily caring and experts at navigating the bureaucracy of the prison-industrial complex.

Princeton Teacher Prep

Princeton does not advertise this much, but it does offer a program through which you can gain certification to teach in public schools in New Jersey. Check out their website for details.

How to Navigate Princeton

Princeton offers a lot of resources (and can afford them with its $36 bn endowment!). While some are excellent, others can be frustrating to navigate or downright harmful if you find yourself in the wrong situation. In what follows, we’ve gathered some of our colleagues’ positive and negative experiences and tried to distill them into useful practical knowledge. If you ever find yourself facing difficulty in your interaction with the institutional bureaucracy, reach out to PGSU at askpgsu@gmail.com for help and we’ll likely be able to connect you with organizers experienced in navigating similar situations. Work problems that feel personal and idiosyncratic are often more common than we think, and connection with knowledgeable, sympathetic colleagues can be a great source of support.

How do I find housing?

On-campus housing

Princeton-owned graduate housing tends to be the most affordable in the area. Unfortunately, Princeton doesn’t guarantee housing to its grad students. This means that we rely on a room draw and yearly renewal process to get new on-campus housing or keep the on-campus housing that we have. Priority for on-campus housing is given to students in their first three years of study.

Layout of Princeton graduate housing

Four residential communities are currently available to grad students at Princeton, each with distinct living arrangements and amenities. With your Princeton credentials, you can access floor plans here. 

The Graduate College mostly houses students in their first year of study, with dorm-style accommodations, shared bathrooms, and a dining hall instead of personal kitchens. You’ll be able to choose a meal plan when you accept your housing offer. A shuttle route takes residents to and from campus; otherwise, the Grad College is about fifteen minutes’ walking distance from Firestone Library. Note that the Grad College is not equipped with air conditioning in individual rooms, a significant negative factor in residents’ quality of life during the hot summer months.

Lawrence and Lakeside both offer apartment-style housing ten to fifteen minutes away from campus by shuttle. The Lawrence community offers studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments with communal laundry in centrally located buildings. Lakeside offers one- to four-bedroom apartments with in-unit laundry; furnished units are available. Lakeside apartments are pet-friendly, while pets are allowed in Lawrence buildings 2 through 7. The school will give you information about how to register your pet during move-in.

Finally, the Graduate College Annexes are three-story houses located at and around University Place, next to campus. Students in the Annexes live in single rooms and share gender-neutral bathrooms and common areas, including a kitchen and laundry facilities.

While it is not yet available, the University has announced that the Meadows housing complex, located in West Windsor, NJ and expected to house 379 graduate students/families, should be completed by spring of 2024 and become available for the room draw that semester.

Room draw

How do you get an on-campus housing offer? Princeton’s room draw process requires attention to a number of important deadlines that begin in the first week of March. If you are a G1 or G2 in a studio or one-bedroom apartment, a G1 or G2 with a spouse in a two-bedroom apartment, or a student of any year with children, you will receive an automatic renewal offer that you must accept or reject. If you are a G1 or G2 living with other students in their first through third years, or if you live in the GC or Annex, you will be required to submit a renewal form to keep your housing. In the past, students have been given a week to review and make a decision on their renewal offers.

Often, first- and second-year students living in multi-person apartments want to renew their housing but cannot do so with current roommates, who are no longer eligible for housing (G4 and above). They must find a new G1, G2, or G3 for each vacant spot in order to submit the renewal form. Those who don’t get a renewal offer and those who want to try for a different kind of housing enter the room draw. You’ll go to the housing portal and fill out an application specifying your housing needs, the housing types you’d like to apply for in the order you prefer, and the people (if any) you would like to live with. If you are applying with roommates, you must submit identical housing type rankings and list one another on your applications to be placed together.

In April, the Housing Office runs a lottery, assigning numbers to each applicant by randomizing the applicant pool within class years. It will post a list of successful and unsuccessful applicants, specifying which type of housing each applicant was successful for. If you are successful in the lottery, you can expect to get a specific housing offer in the weeks after the lottery; the Housing Office reaches out with offers on a rolling basis.

What we wish we knew about on-campus housing

Off-campus housing

In Princeton

In addition to the apartment rental websites that operate in other parts of the US (Zillow, Craigslist, Apartments.com), Princeton University maintains its own roommate and housing search board at https://offcampushousing.princeton.edu. The search board can help you find roommates and/or housing in the greater Princeton area. Landlords can submit their units to the board — meaning you are hypothetically more likely to find a student-friendly landlord than through standard apartment search boards.

Princeton grads may qualify for affordable housing based on their household income. Princeton Housing Authority and Princeton Community Housing offer affordable units to those meeting certain income thresholds. There is a detailed application process, and demand is higher than supply: as such, it can be difficult to estimate when a unit will become available or when you can move in. Have a backup plan.

Princeton’s rental market is very competitive, in part thanks to the university. Princeton employs many people in the area — some of whom have means vastly outstripping others — and all of us need places to live. The suburban/exurban environment and many well-regarded schools also make the area desirable for many people seeking a quiet place to live and raise children. You will find that many apartments within walking distance of campus cost far more in rent than is affordable on the annual pay of a single graduate. If you want to live close enough to walk or bike to campus, finding roommates may be necessary to help share expenses.

Outside Princeton

Many grads choose to live further off campus and commute to Princeton. Some live in other towns and cities in New Jersey, including Princeton Junction, Plainsboro, Lawrenceville, Hopewell, New Brunswick, and Trenton. There are varying levels of public transportation that connect these places to Princeton; for instance, Princeton Junction, New Brunswick, and Trenton are connected via rail through NJ Transit, whereas Plainsboro and Lawrenceville are most easily accessible via car.

Others choose to live outside of New Jersey. Philadelphia and New York can offer bustling and exciting city life and community at a reasonable distance from campus (45-60 minutes driving from Philadelphia, or 1.5-2.5 hours on the subway & train from NYC). Budget-wise, apartments in the city can be more expensive than living in Princeton (although you will have much better luck in Philadelphia than New York). As a data point, one grad student who has lived in Princeton, New York, and Philly during their time (2018-2024) reported paying about $1000 for a 1-bedroom apartment in Philly (West Philly) vs. paying about $2200 for a 1-bedroom apartment in New York (Manhattan).

If you choose to live in Philadelphia, here are some things to consider. Rent and food are  significantly cheaper than both New York and Princeton, especially if you choose to live in South or West Philly. Many Princeton grads choose to live in West Philly because of its proximity to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. UPenn is part of Princeton’s IvyPlus Exchange system, and the libraries are well stocked and accessible to Princeton students. Plus, since a lot of grads live in the area, there is a nice sense of community. Apartments can be found on Facebook groups (West Willy is one such group), Craigslist, Zillow, and Apartments.com. Also many graduate students at Princeton and Penn as well as faculty from both schools offer sublets on their apartments or transfer leases to people in known networks, so it’s worth asking around in your department about this. On the flip side, expenses add up on the transport front, because the public transport options are less functional than if you are commuting from New York (from Philly to Princeton, it takes 2+ hours on the train, versus 45 minutes driving). Having a car or carpooling to Princeton with other grads is easier, but it does mean money spent on gas and insurance.

How do I get to campus?

Transportation in Princeton is a recurring issue of frustration for grads, to the point that the GSG put together a “transportation survival guide” available here (with Princeton credentials). As discussed above in “How do I find housing?” proximity to Princeton jacks up the price of housing, which can mean that an affordable home within walking distance of campus can be hard to find. Moreover, Princeton’s downtown, though rich in cafes and boutique clothing stores, lacks many basic necessities like a greengrocer or laundromat. As such, you may find that you will at some point have to consider the dreaded commute!

Driving

Like many American suburban/exurban areas, Princeton is most easily navigated by car. There are numerous parking lots on campus with various designations controlling who may park in them: the grad student lots are shown in this map. Note that parking is free for anyone (including non-Princeton folks) after 4pm and on weekends, although not overnight.

For those who cannot or don’t want to drive, there are many alternative ways to get to and from campus! Princeton runs a 50% transit subsidy program for grad students who do not have an on-campus housing assignment and take one or more forms of public transportation to commute to campus. You must enroll in the Revise Your Ride program to be eligible, and you must submit the relevant receipts on a monthly basis. Reimbursements up to $325 are deposited into your stipend, but note that there are various conditions and limitations specific to each form of transportation.

Biking

A bike can be a great and inexpensive way to get around Princeton. There are many bike racks around campus and the Princeton area has, for a suburban American town, better-than-average bicycle infrastructure, and thanks to New Jersey’s relatively warm climate, biking is generally possible year-round.

Princeton has two bike stores: Kopp’s Cycle, at Tulane and Spring; and Jay’s Cycles, east on Nassau St past Olden. Both sell bikes and bike accessories and can service your bike for you. If you just want a bike for convenience and commuting, you can often find a cheap used bike on Tiger Retail or in the #buying-and-selling channel of the GSG Slack (the spring move out period is often the best time to look). The Boys & Girls Club of Mercer County also operates a Bike Exchange in Ewing, NJ (unfortunately, you will need a car to get to the bikes!).

Bike thefts are relatively rare but do happen occasionally. Be sure to get a good lock for your bike. If you want, you can register your bike for free with Public Safety.

Buses

TigerTransit

Princeton has several bus routes that help graduate students get from grad housing to campus and, on the weekends, to the shops along Route 1. Buses are free and wheelchair accessible. There is an app you can use to track the location of the buses.

At night there is also the complementary “P-Ride” shuttle which can give you a lift back to the grad college or the Lawrence/Lakeside apartments if the bus is no longer running. You can request it at 609-874-0699.

Coach bus to NYC

There are a few other bus networks that operate around Princeton. In particular, Coach USA Line 100 is a bus line that runs between Palmer Square in Princeton and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, making stops in towns along the route. You can find the bus schedule here along with fare information.

Trains

NJTransit

NJTransit is the main train operator around Princeton. There are two lines all Princeton workers should know about. The Northeast Corridor line is the principal NJTransit line, running between Trenton Transit Center in Trenton, NJ and Penn Station in New York, NY, with stops at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark and Princeton Junction. Princeton Junction (technically situated in West Windsor, rather than Princeton) is the closest stop along the Northeast Corridor to Princeton proper: to reach campus, you must take the Princeton line, also known as the Dinky, a short one-stop line that runs between Princeton Junction and Princeton station. The Princeton station is at the southern tip of Princeton’s campus, within walking distance of Lakeside and Lawrence apartments. The Dinky’s schedule typically coincides with the Northeast Corridor trains to/from New York, making it relatively efficient for getting between Princeton and NYC — less so between Princeton and Philadelphia.

You can purchase fares for NJTransit using the NJTransit app or at ticket booths at any NJTransit station.

SEPTA

The Southern Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) is the main transit system in the Philadelphia area. SEPTA uses a pass called a SEPTA key, which is used on regional rail, buses, subway, and trolleys. You can pick up a SEPTA key at any SEPTA Fare Kiosk and add funds through the SEPTA app. SEPTA does not take cash.

SEPTA includes the following services:

Useful stations to know:

How do I find an advisor?

The process of finding an advisor is of course critical to our work, but the how-to varies from department to department. Below, we offer some information, broken up by division, based on the experience of grads across Princeton.

Humanities and Social Sciences

Most graduate workers in these departments are not assigned permanent advisors when they enter the program, though they might have mentioned specific faculty members on their application. In some departments, students are assigned a “first year advisor” or may work with the Director of Graduate Studies to chart a path through coursework. Ideally, during the coursework period, grads meet a variety of faculty across their fields of interest, and as they hone in on a project, they gauge their compatibility with these faculty as potential advisors. Some departments have formalized mentorships or apprenticeships, while others are more ad-hoc. Comprehensive exams or “generals'' are considered a time to start formalizing these relationships, although most grads do not have to “declare” their final (internal) dissertation committee until the end of their third or fourth year. External faculty mentors or dissertation committee members can often join closer to the actual dissertation defense date.

This does not mean that all advisors are equal or that mentorship takes place only through formalized channels. Many grads in the humanities and social sciences report that advising guidelines can be vague, and faculty are not always equipped to support grad workers with adequate academic or professional advice. It’s often a good idea to speak to advanced graduate students in your field to get a sense of how things work. These people can be a source of valuable professional advice, as well as information about potential advisors and their mentorship styles. You can and should email any faculty members you are interested in working with, whether or not you are in their course or department, to ask to meet with them and discuss your ideas. Faculty members outside your department won’t always respond or tell you what you want to hear, but it’s your right as a graduate student at Princeton to build a mentorship community across fields, departments, and programs, whether these relationships are formalized or not.

Natural Sciences and Engineering

In STEM, students are generally expected to have formally determined their research advisor or advisors within their first year, although some departments allow for more time. In many STEM departments, professors (a.k.a. PIs — principal investigators) have their own lab focussed on a specific research area or goal. Working with a particular professor means joining their lab. In some STEM departments, there is a lab rotation process, where first-year students rotate through different labs to work on different research projects. This process can be useful for helping you figure out what you want to work on and with whom.

Not all STEM departments have a formal rotation process. In some departments, students may be admitted with an “academic advisor” who is selected by the department as a “best match” professor aligned with the student’s research interests. Some academic advisors will encourage their students to work with other faculty to help determine who is a best fit for them; however, advisors can also refuse to work with students if there’s no available funding.

Things to keep in mind about advising

For better or worse, academic advisors combine the functions of mentor — helping you learn a profession — and boss — assessing your progress and recommending re-enrollment. This can sometimes make it awkward to raise workplace-related problems and concerns.

In choosing an advisor, make sure you prioritize finding a “fit” between the two of you in learning and mentorship style. It can be difficult to be advised by someone with whom you don’t work well and a bad fit can be disastrous in the long-term. Remember that you’re entitled to active and respectful mentorship and can look in a variety of places for the kinds of support you need (peers, the Writing Center, McGraw, the Grad Humanities program, IHUM, and other institutional resources can complement departmental faculty advising).

If an advising relationship is actively harming you or your career, you also have the right to seek support. Check out our section on harassment below for more details on how to get this support.

How do I get paid?

Our work at Princeton is full-time work. Yet the university distinguishes between types of labor we engage in. As a consequence, the matter of what we get paid for and by whom varies widely across departments and divisions. Over the course of our program, funding for grads in Ph.D. programs might come from University Fellowships, Assistantships in Research (RAs) or Instruction (TAs), and External Fellowships, or a combination of any of those. The university also deducts fees automatically from your paycheck before transferring it to you. This includes rent if you live in university housing.

The current base rates for fellowships and assistantships can be found here. They may be adjusted annually, e.g. according to inflation. Since our terms of employment are not regulated by a contract, such adjustments are at the university’s discretion, and may respond to a range of factors, such as university budget priorities and the need to remain competitive with perceived peer institutions. One factor they don’t currently respond to—at least at Princeton—is the demands of current graduate workers, who might, for instance, want their stipends to grow at a minimum pegged to cost-of-living increases. Of course, insofar as Princeton aims to stay competitive with peer institutions, stipend rates may indirectly reflect the demands of graduate workers elsewhere. Most recent major adjustments, such as the much-reported 25% raise in 2022 and an additional raise during inflation-battered 2023, followed raises negotiated by grad unions at neighboring institutions.

Your department determines the regular length of your program — for most Princeton PhDs, this is five years — during which time you are able to enroll in classes and receive funding more-or-less automatically. What comes after is highly department-dependent and can even depend on your advisor/department chair. If you have not graduated by the end of your regular program length, you enter “Dissertation Completion Enrollment” status. Graduates on DCE have no “automatic” funding, and are subject to steep DCE fees —$7,150 for the 2023-2024 year. Through teaching and/or external fellowships, grads can qualify for exemption from this tuition. There are also a number of internal fellowships, and in some cases, departmental funding options. It’s important to arrange for supplemental funding in advance, as median time to completion exceeds five years in almost all departments.

Humanities and Social Sciences

For their first five years, most PhD Students in the Humanities and Social Sciences are funded by University Fellowships, though there might be teaching requirements that vary by department. Some departments, like History and Near Eastern Studies, require no teaching, while others, like German or Classics, require a fair amount of teaching. In any event, the terms of our enrollment require us to “accept the responsibility for teaching in any given term if called upon to do so.”

Pay for teaching is a bit opaque: Generally, we receive a wage at the rate set by the university, but this is not calculated on the hours we put in toward teaching. We receive pay for “1 hour” when acting as an AI per precept, i.e. 1/12 of the AI rate, equal to $2817 for 2020-21 (this can go up when teaching multiple precepts or acting as a head preceptor). Of course, teaching a precept will be much more than a 1 hour commitment! Additionally, when on the University Fellowship, a large part of this pay gets deducted from your stipend, so financially speaking, you will not be able to take home more than a few hundred dollars/year from non-required teaching, especially since our teaching pay is taxable in the state of New Jersey (fellowship income is not).

Unfortunately, unlike other universities (such as Brown and Rutgers), Princeton has so far not guaranteed resources to help students address research delays beyond their control, such as due to travel restrictions or the Covid-19 pandemic, which is why many grads currently are forced to compete for limited funding. Meanwhile, the University’s assets have grown by $9 billion since 2019.

Natural Sciences and Engineering

In Natural Sciences and Engineering, doctoral studies for students in the natural sciences and engineering usually receive a 10-month first year fellowship. Funding after guaranteed fellowship coverage varies completely by department and is somewhat dependent on the amount of discretionary spending in which departments choose to engage: Generally speaking, departments dispose of additional grants funding from various private and public sources. This grant money is funneled through the university administration first, which keeps a piece, and then to the departments and labs. It would seem that this additional source of money would lead to increased financial stability for grads in the ‘hard’ sciences, but in many departments this is unfortunately not the case. After one’s first year, there are no guaranteed University Fellowships for grads in the hard sciences. Some departments, like Mathematics, will choose to cover all of their grads for the entirety of the traditional five-year tenure, while others, like Chemistry, do not cover grads beyond their third year and further funding is dependent on taking teaching appointments. These departments also feature the additional bureaucratic structure of research groups, or “labs”, which may choose to cover grads if the department does not. This once again will depend on the amount of funding principal investigators, heads of research groups, possess and/or will choose to spend.

Teaching requirements vary significantly across departments. When teaching, grads are paid as AIs (as with Humanities Students, the pay for this is opaque, see above). Some departments, such as chemistry and computer science, make teaching a certain number of times or during certain years a requirement for fulfilling one’s degree. Other departments may ask students to teach arbitrarily according to enrolments. Moreover, as for the bulk of the departments in these divisions, students’ funding comes directly from their advisor’s grants, when grant funding is low, students may be asked to teach to cover their pay.

As the funding situation for grads in engineering and natural science departments is much more opaque and uneven, you may depend on consulting with your DGS, with your departmental administration, and with friends and organizers in the department about your options. As in humanities and social sciences departments, there has been no guaranteed contingency funding to help students address research delays beyond their control, such as due to the Covid-19 pandemic. If you need to change an advisor, the complex funding structure can become an issue as well, as Princeton does not offer transitional funding (unlike Columbia), though departments may consider it case-by-case.

Master’s Students

In general, the Graduate School does not provide central funding for master’s candidates. Funding options vary widely from department to department. In Computer Science, students can get full financial support through teaching as Assistants in Instruction. In other departments like Architecture, the situation is more patchwork: The Architecture School usually offers a set number of AI positions that are distributed among masters and PhD students. AI duties typically include teaching, lab supervision, leading group discussions, providing feedback, arranging schedules, managing student assignments, etc. Here, too, grad workers receive AI salary based on the number of AI hours assigned, but the actual amount of workload often does not correspond to the assigned AI hours. Further, there is little transparency in how positions and hours are assigned, which may leave certain students without access to critical funding.

Opportunities for Extra Pay and Teaching

There are many opportunities for extra pay to be made in jobs around campus. Many students work in libraries. Others are fellows at the Princeton Writing Center, a campus job with flexible hours with additional pedagogical benefits. Additional centers around campus, like the Global History Lab and the courses it teaches around the world or the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning and the pedagogical workshops it offers, also provide opportunities for part-time work. The McGraw Center also provides outlets for teaching outside of Princeton University, many of which are paid, such as the Mercer/Princeton Teaching Partnership Program which provides opportunities for Princeton graduate students to teach at Mercer County Community College. The New Grad Social Impact Fellowship allows grads to take paid jobs in nonprofits, with Princeton covering the pay. Thus, it is one of the rare off-campus work opportunities for international students on a non-work visa.  

Note: you are only allowed to work 10 hours per week part-time through Princeton. This is an average however from across the year, so in any given week, you can work significantly over 10 hours and be paid for it, as long as your average hours throughout the year are 10 or below.

In many STEM departments, grads may intern off-campus over the summer — in some research areas like computer science, many grads spend one or two summers working in research labs at tech companies to develop research connections outside of academia. Internships are hence viewed primarily as a way to broaden your research background; that being said, they may also offer opportunities to be paid well beyond a typical grad worker’s salary. It’s usually a good idea to talk to your advisor or department well in advance of taking on any internship to be sure it aligns with your research (this may in fact be a requirement if you are an international student, and therefore in need of summer CPT approval to accept an internship — see the visa section below for more details).

How do I do my taxes? 

International grads, please also consult our Visa section on information specific to non-citizen taxation.

Since Princeton does not consider our graduate stipends “reportable income,” most US citizens and “Resident Alien” graduate students do not have taxes withheld from their monthly paychecks. This makes tax season in April confusing and complicated. While we are by no means tax lawyers, and the University continues to remind us that they are not tax lawyers either, here is some information on how to organize and collect your tax information to make tax payments as painless as possible.

Reporting Your Own Taxes

Save your acceptance letter, re-enrolment letters or letters from your department that mention your stipend rate, and monthly pay stubs to get an accurate sense of how much you make yearly. Also save information on any additional funding you receive during the year for research travel, as a research assistant, or otherwise. Calculate ahead how much “non-reported” taxable income you are making - see the University’s Tax page for some guidance but also keep your own notes as much as possible.

Tuition support is currently non-taxable, so you don’t need to report that. Only report your fellowship information and AI or RA information, as well as additional fellowship support you receive.

Travel and conference support may be taxable; it is unclear and depends on the nature of your funding. Consider writing to the tax office or your department, although we cannot promise they will give you clear answers. This page offers some brief guidance on what may or may not be taxable and reported.

Our fellowship is non-taxable at the state level (in New Jersey) but is federally taxable. If your tax residence is another state (for example, New York or Pennsylvania), then your fellowship may become taxable at the state level.

Many campus jobs, teaching jobs, and research assistantships that you do to supplement your fellowship are “reported” income for which you will receive a W-2 - check your pay stubs to see if taxes have already been deducted on these, and make sure you download your W-2 and other tax forms from TigerHub when submitting your taxes in April.

Estimated Taxes

Each quarter you should pay a quarterly estimated tax payment to the IRS. This does not have to be exact (it’s “estimated”), but because the university does not withhold federal taxes from students who are citizens or Resident Aliens, if you fail to make these quarterly payments, you can be fined in mid-April during the yearly “tax season.” You can pay these estimated taxes online (as you can with your taxes in general).

Filing for Free

There are a number of options to file your federal and state taxes via free online software that most graduate students qualify to use because of our income level. The IRS provides a tool to see which software you may be eligible to use, based on your income (and that of your household if you have a partner), and states in which you need to file. H&R Block is often a good choice, though the specific qualifications each piece of software uses to evaluate who can file for free (both federally and for each state in which they must pay taxes) do change. Watch out for TurboTax, which may not tell you until you have put in all your information that you will actually have to pay to use their product! You can file your New Jersey state taxes for free via the state’s website.

Remember as you file that the state of New Jersey does not tax fellowship stipend, so if you live in Princeton, you owe taxes federally but not at the state level (you, of course, still need to file NJ tax forms). If you live in Philadelphia, the State of Pennsylvania has a free online tax filing form provided by the state, which often works out cheaper than adding a state to H&R Block or TurboTax.

Documentation

Typically, to file taxes as a citizen or Resident Alien (as online softwares will tell you), you need a Social Security Number (SSN), W-2, W-4, and other forms that show up in your TigerHub “tax forms” section, as well as the information on reportable income you have collected over the year. Also save any Estimated Tax receipts. The online software will fill out your form 1040 at the federal and state level - these are the typical tax forms most graduate students have to submit, but you may have specific or different ones based on your marital status, filing status, address or change of address, familial income, or other markers. Free online softwares should be able to help you identify your particular forms or deductibles.

International Students

For international students on non-immigrant visas who have not spent significant previous time in the United States, there are additional complications to take into account. First, you will not be able to obtain a Social Security Number as long as you don’t receive “employment income.” University fellowships that fund most graduate students in their first year, and humanities and social sciences departments throughout their studies, do not count as employment income. If you take on additional employment (say an on-campus job), you qualify for a SSN. If a university fellowship (reported on a 1042 form that you can also find on TigerHub) is your sole source of income and you don’t already have a SSN when starting your program, you will need to apply for an “International Taxpayer Identification Number” or ITIN instead in order to file your taxes. For this application, you need to provide original documents, including your passport, so making an in-person appointment at a Social Security Administration office is highly advised. For most Princeton residents, the closest SSA office is in Roebling Market, Trenton, NJ. Note that the SSN functions as an important identification number in the US that is required for all kinds of things, including for obtaining a credit card and a driver’s license. Sometimes an “SSN rejection letter,” also obtainable at an SSA office, is accepted as a workaround.

Second, the “law requires that 14 percent of the amount of fellowship stipends that exceeds the cost of tuition, books, fees, and related classroom expenses be withheld” (Columbia GSAS information) from international students’ income. Unlike for US citizens and Resident Aliens, this amount will be automatically deducted from your payroll, so you need to take that into account in your financial planning. Some countries have tax treaties with the U.S. that exempt you from paying this tax, but you will have to prove that you qualify first (via a form that can be submitted alongside your ITIN application).

The contact person for international graduate students’ tax matters is Kristy Holmes (klholmes@princeton.edu). It is advisable to get in touch with her as soon as you arrive at Princeton in order to prepare the application documents that you need. However, Kristy is the sole person responsible for administering all international graduate students’ tax matters and therefore highly overworked and often impossible to reach; and this astounding understaffing has created many problems for international grad students in the past. Moreover, she might not be able to advise you in advanced legal questions if, due to previous visa statuses you might have held in the US, additional income, marital status, dependents, or other circumstances your tax situation is more complex. Unfortunately, resources for international graduate students at Princeton remain highly insufficient in that regard.

How do I access healthcare?

Key Terms

The U.S. healthcare system can be so confusing that there are whole textbooks written to explain it. Here are the key terms someone needs to know about healthcare coverage in the United States:

The Student Health Plan

The health insurance plan for grad students (the Student Health Plan) has some frustrating gaps in coverage but is not terrible considering the flawed US private healthcare system. The plan costs $3,000 for a student in 2023, and it’s $2,000 to cover a spouse and $1,000 to $3,000 to cover children. You are automatically enrolled every September but need to re-enroll your dependents. You must also re-enroll every year if you wish to use the dental and vision plans (an extra $75 annually for each). The SHP is offered through Aetna. Make sure to register at Aetna’s member website, which is really helpful for finding in-network doctors and managing claims. It’s a good idea to also register for an account on the OptumRx website -- this is where any prescription medications are covered. Through both of these websites, you can print your ID card to take to your healthcare provider or pharmacist.

You can find all the info on what’s covered by the SHP here. Basically, if you can find an in-network provider (“preferred care”) who meets your needs, that’s going to cost you less. So if you’re looking to go outside UHS for things like routine primary care visits or gynecology and obstetrics, it’s probably worth searching Aetna’s website for an in-network doctor, which the plan will cover at 100% as compared to 70% for out-of-network. Of course, this is not always possible -- therapists tend not to be in-network, for example, or perhaps you have an existing relationship with a specialist who is not in-network. Currently, out-of-network mental health will only be covered at 70%(our coverage used to be 80%, so this has gotten worse over time!). For mental health in particular, there is also an “Exclusive Provider Network” -- if you see one of the doctors on this list, you’ll only pay $20 per session. Unfortunately, it’s a rather short list, and spots are limited!

The plan has an out-of-pocket maximum of $5,000 a year for an individual or $10,000 for a family. This means that if you’ve spent that much on medical expenses through copays and coinsurance (the parts not covered by the plan), the plan will cover any other expenses for the year. This is a pretty high maximum, but given the outrageous cost of medical care, the unfortunate fact is that some grads with acute health needs will meet it. Most hospital and surgical expenses are NOT fully covered by the SHP (90% for in-network at 70% for out-of-network). Pregnancy-related care is an exception. After lots of student advocacy, maternity expenses are now covered at 100% with just a $10 copay per office visit!

Off-campus coverage

In some circumstances, you will need to get a referral from UHS if you want to see an off-campus provider. Fortunately, if you live and are seeking services outside of Mercer County, you don’t need a referral. You also never need a referral for a routine physical exam, OB-GYN visit, or pediatric care. Gender-affirming surgeries and procedures do require a “pre-certification” by UHS staff, meaning you will need to schedule an appointment to discuss your plan with a nurse practitioner or counselor on campus. The section above helped to clarify these costs!

Filing claims

A claim is a request for reimbursement from your insurance after paying for certain procedures. You file a claim through this form and can read here about the process of submitting an electronic claim.

University Health Services

UHS is located in the McCosh infirmary just south of Frist (different from McCosh Hall opposite the University chapel). It's generally speaking a convenient one-stop shop for basic medical appointments and is fully integrated within our health insurance so you won’t have to pay! Especially for those international students new to the mess that is private healthcare, McCosh saves a lot of worry and stress. See our Institutional Resources section for more information and an assessment of UHS.

Treatments that require payment include:

How do I make an appointment with UHS?

Typically, you can go online or call 609-258-3141 to make a UHS appointment for preventative care, sexual health, immunizations, counseling, athletic medicine, and more, and you can walk into McCosh during business hours for an urgent need. You should call or go online to set up an appointment before you go to McCosh.

Reproductive care at UHS and elsewhere

Anyone can make an appointment with an OB-GYN without a referral from UHS and various kinds of procedures are covered. This includes elective and non-elective abortions and procedures for individuals in various stages of pregnancy. Medical expenses like care after complications, routine nursery care, physician visits and consultations, and other check-ups, examinations, and evaluations are provided when dependents are enrolled. In-patient care is also covered after vaginal delivery (minimum of 48 hours) and cesarean section (minimum of 96 hours). See Parents and Caregivers below.

Sexual Health at UHS

Through Princeton UHS, you can get free condoms and schedule STI testing, HPV vaccinations, and birth control. Birth control and other prescriptions can be transferred to an out-of-state address after the initial consult. If you are not in Princeton, consider making a telehealth appointment to avail of these free services while in town, but note Princeton’s health plan and health services are more difficult to access from out of state.

Mental Health at UHS

Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) fall under the UHS umbrella but whereas most of the UHS facilities are well-resourced, CPS falls well short of what is needed. On-campus counselors will see graduate students at no cost, but are few in number relative to the many students seeking appointments. As a result, it is difficult to get an appointment more often than once every two or three weeks. The CPS counselors will hence usually refer you to off-campus therapists who can meet more regularly, but will generally charge a copay. Finding queer/BIPOC therapists can be an additional challenge for queer/BIPOC students, as there are relatively few therapists in the area who share their positionalities.

In summary, here is a potential step-by-step guide to connecting with a mental health professional as a Princeton student.

Parents and Caregivers

Princeton could do much more to support the needs (and the various living expenses) that come with children and other dependents. The Graduate School offers the following programs:

This resource list by Tigers with Cubs also contains childcare and school options in the local area.

What should I do if I cannot afford my healthcare expenses?

There are multiple ways to get support with the high cost of healthcare in the United States. Special Needs Fund allows students to request support with financial struggles. The Graduate School also has the Medical Expense Assistance Program. UHS also has this list with other opportunities for assistance. The Office of Disability Services can also provide students facing various hardships with support.

While it may feel odd to request financial assistance, these programs exist to help you. They are, sadly, a short-term solution for a systemic issue, both at Princeton and in the United States. It is okay to ask for help!

What if I have a particular healthcare situation that isn’t addressed here?

Princeton makes navigating the healthcare system even more difficult than it already is. We’ve done our best to compile advice from our own experiences in this guide, but we’re not experts! If you’re having an issue related to the Student Health Plan, try contacting their office via email (shpo@princeton.edu) or phone (609-258-3138). If you have a more general medical question, contacting UHS directly over the phone (609-258-3141) may be helpful.

What do I need to know about my visa? 

More than 1,200 students (or 42%) come from outside the US to carry out graduate work at Princeton, and their circumstances often differ dramatically from those of domestic colleagues. International and immigrant students can face immigration barriers, travel restrictions, finance, funding and healthcare inequalities, racism and xenophobia, and political constraints on freedom. At the same time, the university provides limited resources, which currently do not include access to legal resources. Below you can find a brief introduction to US visa and immigration processes and links to additional resources. This section was compiled by an International and Immigrant Student Working Group within the union, and you are very much invited to get in touch with us if you encounter issues, or would like to get involved in advocacy, at askpgsu@gmail.com.

“Visa” vs. I-20/DS-2019

Source: IISWA FAQ, see more on IISWA below

What is the difference between an I-20 (for F1 holders) or DS-2019 (for J1 holders) and a non-immigrant visa?

A visa is a travel document. It acts like a ticket to cross the border. An I-20 or DS-2019 specifically permits you to study in the United States for the duration that it is valid. Both F-1 and J-1 visas are considered non-immigrant visas.

What if my visa expires before my I-20 or DS-2019?

You are allowed to stay for the “duration of status,” which means the time it should take you to complete your program. You can remain in the United States with a valid study permit and an expired visa. Should you leave the country, however, you would need to renew your visa at an embassy outside the US in order to return.         

What do I need to renew my visa?

What is the initial visa application like? What about visa renewals? What issues could come up in your visa application or renewal process?

Initial Visa Application

  1. Fulfill Davis Center requirement; Davis Center issues I-20
  2. Pay SEVIS fee & complete online application & book appointment with local U.S. embassies or consulates (and pay respective fees)
  3. Visa interview at the U.S. embassies or consulates
  4. Receive visa. Make sure to present both your visa and your I-20 at U.S. customs (formally known as CBP, Custom and Border Patrol).

Visa Renewal

Visa lengths differ, with various lengths (e.g. 1-year or 5-year). Note that your visa is like a “key”. Once you enter the U.S., as long as you have an up-to-date I-20, you are okay even if your visa expires (this is very common among 1-year visa holders). However, if you’ve left the country and you don’t have a valid visa, you won’t have the “key” to reenter into the United States.

Visa renewals differ by embassy or consulate. Some allow mail-in renewals whereas others require new interviews.

SEVIS Transfer

If you have previously completed another degree and/or obtained F-1/J-1 visas before, you might be able to transfer your SEVIS to Princeton without having to pay the SEVIS fee again. For more information, Davis Center has a site on F-1/J-1 SEVIS transfer.

Possible Issues

F1 vs. J1 visas

Both are non-immigrant visas managed by the DoS’s Exchange Visitor Program and can be used for full-time study in the US, though F1 is a more commonly used option for that purpose. You need a DS-2019 to apply for a J1 and an I-20 to apply for a F1 visa. There’s some differences with regard to employment, employment for dependents and practical training options (see ‘OPT’ and ‘AT’ below). See a comparative chart by the Davis Center here.

Some exchange visitors with J-1 visas are subject to a two-year home-country physical presence requirement, though in some cases it is possible to apply for “J1 waivers” to waive the requirement (of leaving the U.S. and being in one’s home country for two years after the conclusion of the J1). Make sure to consider this requirement as you consider and compare the J1 with the F1.

Temporary Employment: OPT, CPT, AT

What is OPT?

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study. Eligible students can apply to receive up to 12 months of OPT employment authorization before completing their academic studies (pre-completion) and/or after completing their academic studies (post-completion).

What is AT?

Academic training is the temporary employment that is directly related to a J-1 student’s major area of study. Eligible students can apply to receive AT employment authorization for the shorter of either 18 months or the amount of time it took them to complete their PhDs.

What is CPT?

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) is employment that is directly related to your field of study, commensurate with your degree level, and is an integral part of an established curriculum. It is an internship, practicum, or other type of employment that is either required for the degree program or taken for credit toward the degree. You must be a full-time student for one full academic year before being eligible to start your CPT. CPT is available only before completion of studies. (Source: Davis Center website)

What is an I-9?

Upon arrival at Princeton, citizens as well as non-citizens have to “verify” that they are eligible for employment. To this purpose, the I-9 form “must be filled out in person at the time of hire. Princeton University cannot process payment or allow work to begin until the verification process has been completed.”

What is an I-94?

Form I-94 documents your travel history, it “is the DHS arrival/departure record issued to aliens who are admitted to the U.S., who are adjusting status while in the U.S. or extending their stay, among other uses. A CBP officer generally attaches the I-94 to the non-immigrant visitor’s passport upon U.S. entry. The visitor must exit the U.S. on or before the departure date stamped on the I-94.” You can retrieve your up-to-date I-94 online. The I-94 is also required to complete the I-9 form (see above).

Taxes for International Students

If you have no US tax identification or Social Security Number when you start your program, you will need to obtain one. Tax identification numbers are also crucial means of identification in the US, for example in order to obtain a credit card. As long as you solely receive fellowship income, you are not eligible for a Social Security Number (SSN), but will need to apply for a “Individual Taxpayer Identification Number” (ITIN). See more information in the Davis IC FAQ on SSN and ITIN  and in our Taxes 101 section. Note that Princeton may withhold up to 14% of your stipend for international tax purposes, even if your country of residency has a tax treaty that exempts you from paying them (you have to prove that you are exempted first, which can take a while).

What/Who is a DSO?

DSO refers to “Designated School Official”. Your DSO is listed on your I-20 or DS-2019 and is considered your point of contact at the Davis IC. Their function has shifted in the past decades:

“In the pre-SEVIS era [before 2003, when a lot of policies shifted in the aftermath of 9/11], the responsibilities of ISOs were directed mostly toward providing the international student population with services critical to the success of their academic and social adjustment at the U.S. higher education institutions. Although present, a focus on legal compliance with immigration regulations did not dominate ISOs’ work. Implementation of SEVIS and the regulations that accompanied it presented unique challenges for ISOs, ISAs, and their institutions (Bellows & Croom, 2002; NAFSA, 2003a).

With the implementation of new immigration regulations for the international students and the consequent full-scale implementation of SEVIS, the roles and responsibilities of ISOs and ISAs – who now became DSOs – shifted toward legal compliance with new immigration rules, government reporting, and maintenance of the electronic database SEVIS (NAFSA, 2003b; Rosser et al., 2005). While bringing in new technology in the field of international education and making the profession of ISA more visible on the U.S. campuses, implementation of SEVIS has challenged ISAs to maintain their role as advocates and the counselor-educators for international students.” (Bratichko, Guennadi A. The George Washington University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2009. 3360167.)

See also: ICE document about DSOs’ role and training; Study about how the role of DSOs(or ISSAs) changed after implementation of SEVIS.

What is SEVIS?

“SEVIS is an automated process for collecting, maintaining and managing key data on international exchange visitors, international students, and their dependents — prior to their entry in the US, upon their entry, and during their stay (DHS, 2004; Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2004; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], 2004). SEVIS was designed to replace the previous paper-based process. In this automated process real time, accurate information is updated and maintained by schools through the use of an Internet application (DHS, 2004). SEVIS enables education institutions and exchange programs to transmit electronic information via the Internet to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (DOS) throughout the student’s or exchange visitor’s stay in the United States (DHS, 2004). To become SEVIS certified, an institution has to fill out a Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Students, the I-17 form provided by DHS in order to be certified to accept international students (Retention and Reporting of Information for F, J, and M Nonimmigrants; Student and Exchange Visitor Information System [SEVIS], 2002).” (Bratichko, Guennadi A. The George Washington University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2009. 3360167, pp.31-32)

SEVIS is related to US policy on “illegal immigration” as well as the “War on Terrorism” following 9/11. See also: Study on the “Patriot Act” and SEVIS implementation

At other campuses such as U-Michigan, grads have successfully negotiated to waive SEVIS fees for international students. At Princeton, in at least one department this has already been documented as an ad hoc measure.

The “five month” rule        

Leaving the US for a longer period of time might have implications on your immigration status. Students in F1-status who leave the US for more than five months usually need to apply for a new I-20 in order to re-enter the country. Note that this rule has been suspended since March 2020. Students who have left the US after that date and continue to fulfill their obligations abroad are considered  in ‘active status’.  Cf. this helpful FAQ by the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of International Services

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Princeton commits to accept students into their undergraduate program regardless of citizenship status, while admission to the graduate school is contingent on the students’ ability to be lawfully present and eligible for employment in the US. DACA is one way for undocumented youth to obtain a temporary employment authorization in the US:

On June 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would not deport certain undocumented youth who came to the United States as children. Under a directive from the DHS secretary, these youth may be granted a type of temporary permission to stay in the U.S. The Obama administration called this program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. (Source: NILC website)

Sanctuary Campus

A sanctuary campus is any college or university that adopts policies to protect members of the campus community who are undocumented immigrants. You can check out the New School’s Sanctuary Working Group’s 16 points towards a sanctuary campus and a scorecard tracking measures taken at different universities to find out about policies this can entail. Princeton has so far refused to consider declaring itself a sanctuary campus.

See also: Center of Immigration Studies Document (2017) on SEVIS, DSOs and Sanctuary statuses

Immigration “bans”

“Bans” and restrictions on both non-immigrant and immigrant visas have become a more and more frequent political tool that has affected international students enormously. In 2017, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that is often referred to as a “Muslim ban” and that “banned foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the country for 90 days, suspended entry to the country of all Syrian refugees indefinitely, and prohibited any other refugees from coming into the country for 120 days.” This order was quickly challenged in court, but new versions have been announced over the past years (see this informative timeline by the ACLU); and there have been many other policies deeply affecting various parts of the U.S. immigration, visa and asylum system in the US. Most recently, Trump issued Executive Orders limiting the issuance of certain work visas and suspending entry to certain Chinese Nationals including students. In 2020, Covid-related “travel bans” affected almost all international graduate students, including incoming students.

Applying for US Permanent Residency

As a student on an F-1 or J-1 visa, there are a few ways you might be eligible to begin the process towards a US green card, or permanent residency. These include sponsorship through marriage to a US citizen or by a US citizen family member, sponsorship by an employer, investing a large amount of capital in certain US businesses, or self-nominating yourself for an EB-1 visa (for extraordinary ability). The first of this list, permanent residency through marriage, is the most common for current graduate students, since the employment visas are often only possible after completion of your program and EB visas and investor visas have a significant barrier to entry. Princeton requires that you inform them if for any reason you change your visa status, so if you are considering the path to US permanent residency, it’s best to reach out to the Davis International Center.

The Davis Center is unlikely to help you with the actual change of status process, and it might be worth finding yourself an immigration lawyer to help you through it if you can afford it. The Davis Center does have a list of lawyers who have expertise with Princeton graduate students and scholars, and you can request said list from them. Anecdotally, both Klasko Immigration Law Partners (in Philadelphia, charging between $6000-8000 including forms) and Boundless Immigration Services (far more affordable than a lawyer) have proven useful to graduate students in change-of-status situations.

Other Questions (Source: IISWA FAQ, see also below)

I would like to protest. Is it safe?

The risks for an arrest for non-citizen protestors is higher than for citizens. Please find more information here, and a number of practical tips if you do choose to protest here.

How can universities affect federal immigration policy?

The primary way is through lobbying. The main organizations involved in lobbying on behalf of international students are NAFSA and the President’s Alliance for Higher Education and Immigration. Ask your university whether they are actively participating in these organizations.

Additionally, universities can push elected representatives like local senators and representatives to support or oppose specific bills in Congress. You can also do this, whether individually or through your union.

Contacts/Resources

Important University contacts

For Visa and Immigration matters: Davis International Center

https://davisic.princeton.edu/ 

Your DSO is listed on your I-20 or DS-2019.

For International Tax matters:

Your point of contact is the Department of Global Financial Services at the Office for Finance and Treasury: https://finance.princeton.edu/our-organization/departments-and-people/financial-services/global-financial-services.

As of May 2023, Kristy Holmes and Aarifa Mohammed are administering international students’ tax matters.

Advocacy and Activism

  1. PGSU International Student Working Group. Reach out to askpgsu@gmail.com to get connected with us! 
  2. Check out other campus groups in our student organizations section.

Resources

  1. Support International and Immigrant Student Workers -- IISWA petition and list of demands for universities
  2. International students and the Struggle for Black Lives - IISWA statement

What if I experience harassment?


The power imbalance that underwrites our current relationship with our employer unfortunately becomes very evident and urgent in instances or structural forms of discrimination and harassment. As it stands, real recourse is not a reality at Princeton, as has been pointed out by activists of the Black Justice League, Princeton Students for Title IX Reform (PIXR), and many other campus groups and faculty for years (and recently led to the resignation of multiple DEI staff members). While according to 2018 study, 1 in 5 undergrads and 1 in 11 grads at Princeton have experienced sexual misconduct, and several highly publicized cases in recent years have highlighted rampant abuse of power in multiple departments (see, e.g., here, here, and here), Princeton’s Title IX procedure has been notorious for its dysfunctionality. Opaque, insufficient, and non-survivor centered, it even triggered a probe from the Department of Education in 2014. Many testimonials from survivors of assault and misconduct at Princeton detail grievances that were entirely handled internally, led to no or light penalties, and offered the survivor no support.

 

These problems extend to recourse in cases of bias and harassment. While Princeton has made verbal commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it remains missing in action in many regards (see here and here). Minorities remain underrepresented in graduate programs, as well as among faculty. Means of addressing racist workplace culture and other forms of discrimination are limited and entirely mediated by the university, in contrast with union-mediated grievance procedures elsewhere.

 

You can access Princeton’s policy and resources on Sexual Harassment & Misconduct policies here, and its policy and resources on Bias, Harassment and Discrimination here. However, present and past students at Princeton have experienced that certain institutionalized disciplinary resources serve various interests, including the university’s public reputation and legal liability. Thus, depending on whom you choose to speak to, it might be warranted to consider that your best interest may not be the only concern that University administrators, advisors or staff have in mind.

Additional Resources

SHARE

Princeton SHARE is the Sexual Harassment and Assault Resources and Education group on campus. They are confidential. Confidential resources are not obligated to report information that is given to them (the only exceptions to this rule are in cases that involve child abuse, imminent risk of serious harm, emergent hospitalization, or a court order), unlike other, non-confidential resources (like the Department of Public Safety or Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies), who are required by law to report information about incidents/violations and take legal, disciplinary or other action accordingly. SHARE is composed of staff from University Health Services and student fellows, both undergraduate and graduate. It’s a wonderful resource if somewhat limited in scope and is fully aware of the failings of the Title IX office. You can contact them at 609-258-3310 and at 609-258-3139 for consultation and support.

Title IX Office

The Title IX Office provides information related to resources and options regarding sexual misconduct and conducts investigations and makes adjudications in cases of sexual misconduct. Reform of the Title IX office has been the aim of a student campaign at Princeton (PIXR) for several years now and the university refuses to budge in order to protect abusive faculty from a more rigorous process. The Title IX office is notorious for swallowing student complaints, handing out absurdly light “punishments” for faculty, and being an incredibly stressful part of the bureaucracy for students to deal with. For a full and comprehensive list of demands see: https://princetonixnow.com/suggestions-new-titleix-rules

Ombuds Office

The Ombuds Office is another confidential resource to discuss any form of conflict or misconduct, who can act as an impartial resource or mediators.

Womanspace

Womanspace is a community-based organization that specializes in emergency response and treatment for survivors. They provide a 24-hour, confidential hotline at 609-394-9000; advocates and professionals to facilitate SART activation; access to legal resources; and individual and group counseling. Womanspace provides specialized, individual and group counseling for a sliding scale fee, and also offers a shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

Diversity Centers

Princeton has three diversity centers: the Carl A Fields Center, the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, and the Access Ability Center. They are non-confidential resources. Their wonderful staff members are available to discuss the environment at Princeton and listen to complaints. They are excellent advocates and can help pull the levers of power to help you out if an issue has come up. Princeton, frustratingly, refuses to address systemic problems but does have a track record of sorting things out for individuals who can make enough noise. The staff at these centers can help with that. The centers also run great events throughout the year, and thanks to their efforts, life at Princeton can be much more livable for those of us who aren’t white/cishet/able-bodied/neurotypical/rich/etc.

See our Healthcare section for more information on Counseling and Psychological Services.

How can we organize for a better Princeton?

What is PGSU?

Grads play an integral role in making the university run–we teach, perform research, and contribute to university life. Yet, as it stands, we have no say in the conditions of our work. This creates enormous power imbalances and structural inequities.

This is why we, graduate workers at Princeton, are organizing for recognition of our right to have a say in the terms of our employment. Through a ground-up, grassroots organization, and with the support of our democratically run affiliate, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), we’re seeking to address the needs of Princeton graduate student workers. We are researchers, teachers, scientists, and humanists. We are of diverse backgrounds, origins, gender identities, and colors. We are building a community that transcends the divisions of our disciplines. Our goals include, but are not limited to:

See more about our current platform here.

Why organize a labor union?

A graduate student union is a democratic organization representing the interests of the graduate students who work for the university. Through it, we negotiate over the conditions of our employment. Practically speaking, a graduate union provides a set of organizational tools to empower grad workers. This includes collective bargaining, grievance filings, and contract enforcement, all of which express a powerful shared voice–that is, the power grad workers can exercise when acting together.

Labor unions have a long and storied history in higher education, and remain common today. Thousands of workers in US higher education—across public and private institutions—have formed labor unions in recent years. They’ve done so to address power imbalances and achieve better pay, protections, and legally enforceable guarantees. In the first 4 months of 2023 alone, over 14,000 workers on five different campuses (Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Minnesota and Dartmouth) voted to unionize with our parent union, UE. Many more have held elections or negotiated new contracts (such as Harvard, NYU, the University of California and Rutgers University). While public sector workplaces have traditionally had a higher union presence than private workplaces in the US, many of the most recent graduate worker union campaigns have been at private universities, such as Stanford and Dartmouth. As of June 2023, 5 out of the 8 Ivy League universities are unionized: Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale.

How do we form a union?

To form a union recognized by one’s employer and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal body governing private sector labor relations, a group of workers will first have to collect authorization cards signed by their co-workers. An authorization card is an endorsement of the union as the legal representative for the group of workers included in the union, also called a bargaining unit. Legally, workers only need to acquire signatures from 30% of the bargaining unit. However, it is common practice to collect 60-70% to ensure widespread support going into the election and to demonstrate the strength of the campaign. This is the stage we’re at: we have currently collected cards from over 50% of graduate workers.

As a second step, we’ll either be voluntarily recognized by Princeton or will appeal to the National Labor Relations board to hold a successful election at our workplace. This will give us legal recognition as a unit and mandate that Princeton bargain with us. Following the election, we will elect a group of graduate workers—a bargaining team—to represent us at the table. Through discussions, surveys, and votes, we will democratically determine what is fought for at the bargaining table. We may also democratically choose to engage in organizing actions to apply greater pressure on intransigent bosses to meet worker demands.

Once the bargaining committee reaches a “tentative agreement” with the administration, this agreement will be taken to the general membership for a ratification vote. If ratified by the membership and the administration the agreement becomes binding on the administration and the union. This contract is then renewed in accordance with the renewal article in the contract.

What have other grad unions won in a contract?

Grad unions around the US have won major improvements in grad worker quality of life and substantive protections from abuse, harassment, and exploitation. The first wave of grad unions began in the 1970s at public universities such as University of Michigan, Rutgers, and the University of California. Grad workers at private universities have been pushing towards unionization with growing success in recent years, including at NYU, Columbia, Brown, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Dartmouth. Many of them have since won unprecedented pay raises and protections, and Princeton was already pressured to follow suit on some of them: For example, shortly after Columbia and NYU negotiated contracts with significant pay adjustments, Princeton adjusted its stipend baseline by 25% in 2022. Other protections newly won by our colleagues at Columbia, Harvard, and other schools—such as the right to neutral arbitration and better support for international students, or improved healthcare access—still remain a desideratum at Princeton.

See our own Union tracker, as well as those of MIT and UMN, for more. Our collectively developed platform is here.

How can I get involved?

If you are a current Princeton grad student—sign your union card here to request union representation as a member of PGSU-UE! You can sign a card digitally via the above link, or physically if presented one by a union organizer. We do not show your card to faculty or anyone in the university administration: it’s used by us to demonstrate aggregate support for a union, and to collect demographic information to prove to the NLRB that we have sufficient support among grad workers at Princeton. Questions? Reach out anytime to askpgsu@gmail.com or directly to an organizer in your department!

If you would like to help build our union—wonderful! PGSU is a democratic, open group made up entirely of grad students organizing grad students. A colleague in your department may already be actively organizing—find them here or reach out at askPGSU@gmail.com and we will help establish contact. Everyone talking to coworkers in their departments is considered a part of the Organizing Committee, which meets regularly—all are welcome. If you’d like to get involved in longer-term planning and strategy discussion, join our Coordinating Committee, which meets weekly. Other groups meeting regularly or semi-regularly include Communications, our International Student Working Group, an Event Planning Group, and an Organizer Development Group. Join our mailing list to be informed about future meetings or reach out if you want to get involved. Taking on a specific task in a subcommittee is a great way to get into labor organizing.

If you want to support us financially—PGSU spends about $40 a month on web services, and we also purchase snacks and drinks for events and activities on-campus. We depend on us by a system of entirely voluntary dues. Just 20 people giving $2 a month would meet our current needs. Anyone can send a contribution through Paypal.

Brief Timeline of Graduate Labor Organizing at Princeton

2000–2016: Prehistory

Prior to 2000

Graduate student workers at private universities are considered to be excluded from protection as employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

2000

At NYU, the graduate union (GSOC-UAW) wins its union with certification from the National Labor Relations Board.

2004

Brown issues a challenge to that ruling, the NLRB again decides that graduate students are not employees.

2014

Columbia’s grad union (GWC-UAW) files an election petition, re-opening the issue.

February 2016

9 university administrations, including Princeton, jointly file an amicus brief urging the NLRB to decide against recognizing Columbia’s grad union.

2016–2017: First Campaign

Spring 2016

Initial meetings of grad labor organizers at Princeton lead to the formation of Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU)

August 2016

NLRB rules in favor of GWC-UAW and overrules the Brown decision! Ruling states that we have the right to organize graduate worker unions that our employers are  legally mandated to recognize and bargain with.

Fall 2016- Fall 2017

PGSU begins a campaign, and over 1,000 grads sign a card expressing support of unionization. We also organize around several issues, and participate in a housing summit, a Worker’s March with YDSA, and an action in solidarity with a Rutgers student facing deportation.

2017–2021: Halt of Campaign & Emergency Organizing

Fall 2017

Under Trump’s presidency, the NLRB board swings to an anti-labor majority. Many union campaigns, including ours, are forced to halt their drive, fearing a case will be used to overturn the Columbia precedent.  PGSU refocuses on long-term power building.

In 2017, a proposed congressional tax bill threatens to tax our tuition waivers like income, which would significantly decrease our take home pay. PGSU petitions the University to stand against the bill. Over 1,300 sign the petition, and over 100 march on Nassau Hall to deliver it.

In 2019, we successfully organize actions around abrupt changes to the Student Health Plan, as well as a worker’s inquiry on housing.

Spring 2020 - 2021

In spring 2020, as the pandemic hits, our petition details how Princeton’s COVID response falls short of protecting the university community. Over 700 sign. We release an open letter calling on Princeton to “Stop the Clock” and provide a one year funding extension to all grads, with 1,100 signatures, and organize several actions.

In 2020, we build collaborations with the Black Leadership Coalition (BLC), Students for Prison Education, Abolition and Reform (SPEAR), the Black Graduate Caucus (BGC), and Unidad Latina en Acción NJ.

2021–today: Current Campaign

2021 - 2022

In 2021, the National Labor Relations Board withdraws the proposed ruling that would have taken away the right to unionize from higher ed grad workers at private institutions. In response, graduate campaigns around the country spring (back) up—including at Princeton.

As part of our preparations for a new unionization drive, we collectively vote to affiliate with United Electrical Workers, a democratic and rank-and-file led national union.

Fall 2022

In the face of exponentially rising cost of living, increasing precarity, and a strengthening labor movement, graduate unions at neighboring institutions achieve major improvements through contract negotiations. After NYU and Columbia grads win unprecedented stipend rates, Princeton scrambles to catch up and eventually announces a 25% stipend raise. Campus after campus follows suit. Organizing works!

February 15, 2023

After years of preparation, we kick off our public campaign to unionize with a rally, featuring speakers from ULA, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, and Teachers and Researchers United (TRU)-JHU

Over 1,000 grads (a third of Princeton’s graduate constituency) sign union cards on their first day!  

February 24, 2023

A majority of Princeton’s grads have signed union cards!

May 2023

In the first 5 months of 2023, academic workers across the country are organizing to unionize their workplaces (over 14,000 graduate workers on five different campuses vote to unionize with our national union, United Electrical Workers or UE, alone!); and many others are in process to negotiate better working conditions—a true labor wave that is changing our sector at a fast pace. At Princeton, more than 1,600 grads have now signed cards.

Summer and Fall 2023

We continue to work towards solidifying a strong supermajority to prepare for an election on campus.

Learn more

More Info: FAQ | Platform | Meet your Department Organizers | Get involved!

Website: princetongsu.org 

Socials: Twitter @PrincetonGSU | Insta @princetongradsunited | FB @PrincetonGradsUnited

Sign up to receive emails from our listserv!

Why I signed a Union Card for PGSU

By Alex Diaz-Hui, G3 in English and PLAS

Originally published as an Opinion in the Daily Princetonian on February 27, 2023 (link). Reprinted with permission.

Unlike many students across the country, my last all-nighter had nothing to do with my studies. In June 2020, the last month I was a graduate student at Oregon State University, I stayed on a Zoom call for almost 24 hours to support friends in my department who were members of the bargaining unit of our union, the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE). It was the last of the 180 days allotted for bargaining, so it was crucial that we reached a consensus before this deadline. Because of the pandemic, I could not be there with my friends — the least I could do was be a square on the screen, so the bargaining unit could see me. As the sun rose, I remember hearing the lead negotiator for the university say, “I think we can make that work.” I will never forget the intense joy felt by the breakout room participants, many of whom were on the verge of tears.

The sense of togetherness I felt with CGE helped me empathize with my fellow graduate students and connect their experiences to my own. I could relate to those facing housing and food insecurity — 85 percent of my stipend went to rent, and my first trips to a food pantry occurred during my graduate studies. My own experience reflected the many concerns of my peers at Oregon State, many of whom faced difficulties with budgeting our nine-month stipend, had anxiety when they were told what they were teaching days before the term began, encountered difficulties in securing affordable housing, struggled with inadequate health insurance and childcare support, and lacked adequate parking and transportation on campus.

In bargaining, CGE challenged Oregon State to address these concerns, often using testimonials so that the university could hear firsthand how these issues impacted our work. Listening to others, particularly those who confronted Oregon State representatives in bargaining sessions, allowed me to actually understand what activists and organizers throughout history meant by “solidarity” — to be together with others who have lived different lives from one’s own, and use that collectivity to work together for a brighter future. This power and solidarity are why unions like CGE and Princeton Graduate Students United (PGSU) are so important, and why graduate students have the unique opportunity to make history at Princeton by signing a union card.

Unions, whether they’re for graduate students, service workers, or other working people, are fundamentally about coming together to address systemic concerns in the workplace. They are the work of people of varying backgrounds and perspectives who believe that collective bargaining can guarantee better conditions for all. I cannot, nor can any single person, understand what graduate students at Princeton need as a whole, but when we work together, we can better understand systemic issues at the University in order to call for change.

I moved to the East Coast to begin my studies at Princeton and was introduced to PGSU through an organizer in my department. I was told how we are living in a particularly important era: the National Labor Relations Board is more welcoming of graduate students organizing unions than under previous presidential administrations. This is why other Ivy League institutions like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Brown, and other universities like Johns Hopkins, the University of Southern California, and Northwestern, have had successful election campaigns. We need to do the same. Graduate students at Princeton began the first steps in organizing a formal graduate student union in 2016, and we have been growing in our number of organizers across various disciplines and departments ever since.

I’m currently part of a small group of graduate students working on communications for the union. I don’t have the same courage and personality as some of my peers who can go into offices and other places where graduate students reside and speak for our cause, so sending emails and other communications became my way of supporting PGSU. Every graduate student has the ability to contribute to PGSU in the way that best suits them. We all can work together to make Princeton the best it can be for graduate students.

PGSU has organized around six core demands: fair and effective grievance procedures, improved support for international students, more comprehensive healthcare and childcare, affordable housing through graduation (with essential accommodations like air conditioning), guaranteed pay raises and contingency funding, and clear and safe standards for working and teaching. Each of these demands came from conversations graduate students had with their peers. PGSU is by and for graduate students, responding to the concerns heard across the University. Our platform reflects what we heard graduate students speak about in labs, offices, and reading rooms, and what the University needs to do to allow graduate students to do their work as researchers and educators.

Two weeks ago, over 150 graduate students and our allies held a rally in Scudder Plaza to announce our card-signing campaign. I felt the same passion I had experienced at the last bargaining session with CGE as I heard each speaker address a different concern among graduate students. Through cheers, chants, and applause, graduate students came together with a shared sense of what we can achieve when we organize together.

Princeton works because we do. Sign your union card today.