How much funding should a Carson fellow expect?
The initial grant for the RCC, provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, ends on 31 July 2021. As the initial funding period for the RCC comes to an end, successful fellows will receive a stipend award with their acceptance letter. Due to budgetary restrictions, we are no longer able to negotiate stipend amounts with our fellows. Fellows may request that the award be paid directly to their home institution in the form of a contract buy-out.
As of 1 August 2021, we will continue to award fellowships, however, under different financial parameters. The fellowships advertised for the 2021-22 cohort will have stipend amounts listed in the application call.
It may serve as a point of orientation that the gross annual salary of a chair at a Bavarian university averages 87,000 euros, that of a tenure-track junior professor (with one or two book publications) is ca. 72,000 euros, and that of a lecturer/assistant professor is ca. 60,000 euros per annum. Please note that these are the gross salaries and 40–50 percent of these wages are deducted for taxes, social security, and health insurance—all of which the RCC is not allowed to pay in a stipend. However, stipends are generally tax-free in Germany.
Important to consider in your financial plans is the cost of accommodation: furnished accommodation in Munich is usually around 1,250 euros (studio apartment) to 2,000 euros (for a two bedroom apartment). The central neighborhoods in Munich are very expensive (well over the amounts listed above); however there are many attractive neighborhoods in the city and public transport is excellent. As a point of reference - no staff members live within a fifteen minute walking distance of the RCC. With regards to further costs, grocery shopping is relatively inexpensive in Munich and costs range between 400–800 euros per month, depending on the number of people in the household. Public transportation is also quite reasonable—a monthly ticket costs about 50 euros.