Fellowship Transition
Getting a fellowship as a postdoc can be a significant competitive benefit when applying for jobs in the future. The only real drawback of being a postdoc at UO is how you’re treated when you acquire independent funding. In short, because our benefits and “other payroll expenses” are so costly (greater than the cost of our salary), it’s cheaper for the University to fire us and reimburse us for getting our own independent benefits. It’s not the end of the world, but it can certainly be a headache for those of us who are already busy enough with work and family issues. Fortunately, many UO postdocs have been through this, and this guide will hopefully help you through the process if it happens to you. Visit our Funding/Grants page for more information on how to start by finding and applying for fellowships that fit your needs.
Timeline
1) Application: Find a fellowship and work with your department administrators and Sponsored Project Services to submit your application. This process can take a decent amount of time so do not wait until the last minute. They’ll ask you to make a profile on the E-PCS system well before submission, initiate a fellowship-specific application with SPS, and you’ll have to submit your application to the SPS signing officials before the actual deadline so that they can approve the content. Typically they ask for the completed application at least a day before the actual deadline.
2) Acceptance: Once you’ve successfully landed a fellowship (congrats!), you’ll have to finish submitting any final information they require and sign the acceptance notice. There will be an official start date with this acceptance, and it usually falls on the first of the month. Most faculty are anxious to get you off of their own funding sources, so don’t be surprised if they want you to initiate the fellowship ASAP. This period of time before fellowship activation is when you must deal with ALL THE THINGS that come with essentially being an independent contractor, so don’t waste time getting started.
3) Courtesy appointment: After accepting the fellowship, the University will terminate your position. Your department admin will ask you to send an official email to them stating that you’ll be going onto your own funding. After this it is basically out of your hands – termination paperwork will be signed by your advisor and department head and sent to the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. Shortly thereafter, you will receive a letter from the OVPRI notifying you that you have been given the appointment of “Courtesy Postdoctoral Fellow” and have access to most of the things you had before – email, library, rec center, parking, etc. Keep in mind, though, that because you’re no longer on UO payroll, you’ll probably have to go and set up new payment schedules with parking and the rec center.
4) Benefits: Signing up for health insurance should be your top priority. You will probably only be covered under your previous insurance through the end of the month in which you are terminated. Though you still have the option to get the health/dental insurance that faculty have, these plans are ridiculously expensive. If you have a partner who has good health insurance, you should join their plan if possible. If not, you have two options that can vary in price:
If you have discretionary funds that come with your fellowship (e.g. NIH F32 gives you >$8K) you will be able to find health insurance pretty easily online for around $5K/year and still have some money left over for conferences and supplies. Depending on your needs, you might also consider getting Delta Dental and VSP as they’re relatively cheap. Providers will likely ask for a letter from your department with the dates of your termination and end of benefit coverage, which your departmental administrators can write for you. Again, be sure to start this process early as it can take more than a week for the paperwork to go through.
If you would like to stay on the health/dental you currently have, you can work through the UO benefits office. At the bottom of the page you’ll find a section called “Courtesy Post-Doctoral Appointments”; that’s you. The “Enrollment Form” used to make your choices can be found here. The cost may be more than your discretionary funds, but discuss with your PI as some may be willing to cover the extra amount. If your PI will help cover the cost, then discuss with your account manager to coordinate how the bills will be paid. You will most likely receive a bill from PEBB that you will have to pay upfront get reimbursed by the University.
5) Taxes: More than anything, taxes are a nightmare for scientists on fellowships. Technically speaking, you should pay quarterly estimated taxes, as it’s possible you could be fined for not doing so. Regardless, you’ll be receiving your paychecks in full with ZERO withholdings. You’re responsible for keeping track of how much money to set aside to pay your federal and state taxes, so make sure you plan ahead and set up a savings account if you don’t have one. Postdocs will typically pay about $4K in federal and $3K in state taxes in one year, so be sure to save. The best thing you can do is consult with a tax expert – there are many in town and one UO student group actually helps people for free most years.
6) Retirement: Probably the last thing on your mind is dealing with yet another money thing you have to take care of yourself. But if you haven’t started saving for retirement (most of us didn’t make enough in grad school to do so), now is the time to start. UO requires you to contribute to a retirement plan as a postdoc, so when you are terminated you should roll that money over into another active account (e.g. IRA). During your time as a courtesy postdoc you can continue to contribute to your retirement savings, however you will have to set up a new account, such as a traditional or Roth IRA. Whoever holds your accounts (Fidelity, TIAA) typically offers free advice for retirement planning.
7) Transitioning back: If your fellowship ends and you’re still working at UO, you will have to be hired again as faculty. Because of the fairly strict UO definition of a postdoc as less than five years in length, you will likely not return as an official “postdoctoral scholar” but rather as something like a research assistant, research associate, or pro tem associate. Depending on your advisor, this can be a bad thing for your salary – postdocs are subject to the NIH minimum salary but these other positions are not. Be sure to discuss this transition with your advisor well before it gets to this stage in case you decide to expedite your research projects in order to avoid taking a massive pay cut and dealing with more bureaucratic hoops during the re-hiring process.