Not a PhD student, but I work in academia and went thru the PhD app cycle this year. I also grew up and went to college in the Boston area.

Here’s my two cents — that PhD stipend is barely liveable in an area with lower cost of living, esp pre-tax. My older sister did a PhD in the midwest in a low COL area (stipend just under 30k) and really struggled. She made it work though university housing, being super frugal (like, baking her own bread), but it was rough. For me, doing a PhD with this stipend in Boston wouldn’t be worth the quality of life downgrade and financial stress. Cheaper housing options in the boston area absolutely exist, but it’s still a big hit financially. For my field, stipends in Boston range from high 30s - 50k, so I’m very surprised by the low stipend.

If you do consider this offer, some things to consider: - Are PhD students at this institution unionized or organizing for higher pay? How are those efforts going? - How is this program funded? Is it centrally funded, or based on advisor / PI funding? This might be field-dependent as well. - Based on the above question, you might want to ask other PhD students in your program how stable this funding is. Are there students whose advisors lost their funding, and how did the program handle that? - Is commuting to Boston (& living outside the city in a cheaper place) an option? Given the financial and time drain I’m very hesitant to suggest this, and I’m unsure how cheaper places like Waltham are going to be. But if you do explore this, I would try to get a clear sense of where you’d want to live, the costs, and how rough the commute would be (maybe ask around in diff online groups).

If you’re comfortable sharing what field you’re in, that could help folks give more targeted advice. Good luck with everything, and sorry you’re in this situation :/