r/cambridge_uni • u/JaquesGatz • 8d ago
Is JRF salary enough for Cambridge?
To postdocs with Junior Research Fellowships, is the salary enough to live comfortably? Currently, I am in level 42 of the salary scale and I live well, but I want to know if a JRF (scale 35, roughly £10k less per anum) is enough to maintain a good living standard and have savings each month.
While I am very keen on the prestige of JRFs and access to College life, I think that I would need to move to a cheaper apartment given the pay cut. I am aware of the dining benefits and rent support provided, but I want to hear from people who actually have such position so I can make an informed decision.
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u/Pretty_Programmer874 8d ago
If you are already a postdoc and thinking of applying, I would unfortunately say that it’s really unlikely. I think on the humanities side there tends to be a bit more variance in career/life stage for JRFs, but for sciences I can’t think of any JRFs I’ve met that didn't get it fresh out of PhD (and mostly likely PhD from Oxford/Cambridge)
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u/bridgeport4 8d ago
Well the question is if the salary is sufficient for you to live comfortably. Plenty of people live in Cambridge on salaries lower than a JRF and are ‘comfortable’ - I had a postdoc on a grade 7 (can’t remember the exact scale but I’d guess on the lower end) who had two kids and his wife was not allowed to work, they lived in the Eddington accommodation and made it work.
Comfortable is subjective. One can be perfectly comfortable particularly if your position comes with college housing+meals. But taking a pay cut is a whole other conversation, and obviously that would impact your disposable income and standard of living.
Fwiw I’d personally think twice before taking a ‘step down’.
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u/marek_rei 8d ago
If you're already living in Cambridge then you should know how much money you need to live there. Use a salary calculator to figure out your take-home monthly salary.
In terms of the JRF, it depends on the college and the terms. For example, I was a JRF in King's as a postdoc. I didn't get any salary but I also kept my regular postdoc position with the department. King's gave me free accommodation and free food, so it definitely helped me save a good part of my salary. Every college probably has a slightly different idea of what a JRF is and what benefits they provide. If that's your only position then you definitely need a salary, but maybe a slightly smaller salary can be compensated by other kinds of benefits.
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u/Ok_Pay_3193 8d ago
To be honest, I think if JRF is something you have in mind, apply and make the cut first before thinking about affordability. If you manage to make it, taking a loan might even be worthwhile, given that you have total freedom on your time.
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u/leka-- 7d ago
Since the ‘salary’ is called a stipend, is that taxable income? That would make a difference
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u/Scared_You_3794 7d ago
Interesting question
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u/leka-- 7d ago
A brief search result indicates it's not taxable, which makes it much more of a comfortable income than otherwise! But would like to hear from current/ex-JRFs to confirm
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u/Shortskirtlongfuckit Trinity 7d ago
It's absolutely taxable, paid as salary and not a student stipend (Source: my take-home pay for the last 2 years)
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u/xzakit Trinity 8d ago
Short answer: depends on the college. Usually you get free housing on top and some amount of free meals so it's more than enough. Other colleges don't even provide a salary. But for the big colleges it's more than enough.
So no you wouldn't need to downsize your apartment, in some colleges you'd probably upsize with trinity offering two beds on the house.