Heya, I am Luba, gonna start a PhD in Switzerland soon.

I had applied for phd scholarship which is very low - just 1920 franks
But on the website of EPFL (I am gonna study there) it says that the Uni will pay you extra money if you got the low scholarships like that up to the standart level ("If you receive a scholarship from your home country, EPFL has a policy of ensuring you receive an income equivalent to that of internally-funded doctoral students." ), however this will be not the Uni itself but supervisor.

I didn't ask my supervisor if he is gonna cover the rest or not. But do you think if it is highly probable or not? And will I be able to study in EPFL if not?

And will taxes be charged or not if this is a governmental scholarship?

All best

Hi Lubad,
Congratulations to you for PhD position admission.
Why don't you copy and paste this post into an email and send it to the EPFL HR service or your department/institute secretary. I did my Master at EPFL and I know these people are well online and fast answering questions.
The following are my hopes and I am not sure about it.
1- You are able to study.
2- The taxes do not act (or act very gently) on your salary because it is not from government and it is too low.
Hope you to have a nice study period in Lausanne.
au revoir,
Payam

I am assuming that you're talking about an outside scholarship, since you mentioned your home country. In this case...

It is usual practice for your salary to be increased to match the standard level, because otherwise nobody would apply for scholarships. I have had the same situation, as have others I've worked with (at the ETHZ), and it's not even a question.

I certainly wouldn't choose a supervisor who would punish his or her students for getting their own funding! Don't worry, be proud of yourself for having gotten the scholarship!

Hey Luba,

Congratulations on your scholarship! I've also applied for the exact same scholarship but not in Lausanne, but in Zurich. Hence, I was wondering, considering the fact that living costs in Zurich are astronomically high, whether this scholarship (1920 Francs) only covers your living expenses (food, drink etc) or you have to pay for the accommodation as well? If so, it's absolutely impossible to survive in Zurich. Because from what I've read, accommodation expenses in Zurich for a single person are around 1400/1700 or even higher.

Best,
IA1899

Thanx to everybody!

(how to thank people through the forum? what should i press?)

Hi Luba!
I also applied for this scholarship from my home country, and my boss (in Basel) told me that he will cover the difference if I do get it.

IA1899, as far as I understand, this scholarship is just liquid money that you can use on whatever you need, but they are definitely not paying for a separate accommodation - at least not in the Italian version of the scholarship! The only thing you get for accommodation is a 3-months allowance (I'm guessing it's for temporary accommodation while you find a definitive one).

When I spoke with my boss about this he was very happy to help, perhaps you should try that with your supervisors?

Good luck!

Lisa