PhD Student Info

If you are working in the Hand and Machine lab as a Research Assistant, you will receive the following: 1) Free tuition, up to 9 credit hours per semester. This is a typical graduate student course load. 2) Health insurance. For more information see the Student Health Plan page from UNM HR. 3) A salary that is based on the graduate student contract negotiated by UNM’s graduate student union. See the Research Assistant section of UNM’s salary guide for more information. For a traditional full time student, as of 2023, salaries for our lab are:

• Pre master’s: $3600/month at 100% time (summer), $1800/month at 50% time (academic year)
  yearly total: $27,000
• Post master’s: $4300/month at 100% time (summer), $2150/month at 50% time (academic year)
  yearly total: $32,250
• ABD (all course work and preliminary exams completed): $4300/month at 100% time (summer), $2580/month at 60% time (academic year)
  yearly total: $36,120

The ABD salary (and percentages) are good for 2 years after you have completed your course work, assuming you are making good progress toward your degree. After this time, salary will be determined on an individual basis.