Postdoc's budget blues

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NIH-funded postdocs won't be getting a raise this year. The agency linkurl:announced;http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-036.html last week that it would freeze National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipends for linkurl:postdocs;http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/3/1/49/1/ and trainees in 2008. Because the NIH froze NRSA funding last year also, first-year postdocs will get $36,996 in stipends, the same they received in 2006. These budget amounts fall short of the 2001 NIH linkurl:pledge;http://grants.nih.gov/training/news.htm to increase NRSA funding by 10-12% over the next few years, and comes in the same week that President Bush linkurl:released;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54277/ his FY2009 linkurl:budget;http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/ which freezes the NIH's budget to last year's levels. In a linkurl:statement;http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=eoJMIWOBIrH&b=1438743&content_id={523FF987-D4BB-4C6A-AB33-B892BA84753D}¬oc=1 Friday, the National Postdoctoral Association said it was "disappointed with the NIH's decision to freeze postdoctoral stipends for two successive years, and intends to communicate its concerns to the NIH leadership." Because many institutions base their postdocs' salaries on the NRSA stipend scale, this decision will likely also have an impact on postdocs other than those supported by NRSAs.

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