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Costs
and Support
Pricing Policy | Support for
Researchers without Funding | Dissertation Fellowships
Pricing Policy
There are substantial financial costs involved in opening and operating a Census Research Data
Center. The CCRDC has minimal funding and must
become self-supporting through the collection of user fees in order to
continue operating. For most researchers, the cost of using the RDC will be
directly related to the amount of time the researcher needs to complete their
project; lab time is billed at a standard rate established by the Census
Bureau for use at all Census Research Data Centers.
Standard Rates for Research
Data Center
Access
The rates for RDC access are established by the Census Bureau and are based
on an estimate of the real costs incurred by the RDC to support a project.
The rate, which is the same for all RDCs, is $3,125
per month for a full-time seat. However, most projects do not require
full-time access and the rate is prorated based on the amount of time needed
to conduct the project. For example, a project that requires a 40% level of
access (approximately two days per week) for a period of one year would cost
$15,000. Researchers who need to submit a proposal to obtain funding for
their project are encouraged to use the $15,000-per-year amount as this is
the amount of time typically requested by an average project. There is a minimum fee of $7500 because
even shorter research project require significant time and effort from CCRDC
staff to help with proposal development, security measures, and required paperwork. Researchers may contact the CCRDC to
obtain a more detailed cost estimate for their proposed project.
Due to the startup time involved in most RDC projects it is unlikely that
any part-time research project could be completed in less than three months. This is because the data is usually in
a form that is more raw than researchers expect. Extensions are rarely granted for
projects using economic or administrative record data. Thus, it is better to overestimate a
bit than to risk running out of time before the research is completed.
Additional Fees
Additional fees may be charged to projects that use data sets outside the
core or that impose other special costs on CES, the Census Bureau, or the
RDC.
Support for Researchers
without Funding
The policy of the CCRDC is to strongly encourage all researchers to identify
external funding for their projects. However, researchers without funding are
still encouraged to submit their proposals along with a request for special
consideration. Each year the CCRDC will support a limited number of projects
that do not have funding. These "awards" will be available to all
researchers in California and the western
region of the United
States, regardless of their discipline or
institutional affiliation. These special CCRDC awards will consist of a
reduction or complete waiver of the normal RDC access fees. They do not
include a stipend, reimbursement for travel expenses, or any other
compensation. Funding decisions will be made by the CCRDC's
principal investigators and Project Review Boards and will be based on the
merits of the proposed research and ability of the CCRDC to support the work.
Projects that develop and document new data sets that can be used by other
researchers are more likely to receive CCRDC support.
CCRDC Dissertation
Fellowship Program
The CCRDC is committed to providing access to graduate students at a
reasonable cost. Currently, we are able to offer fellowships that cover the
cost of RDC access to a limited number of graduate students from California and the western region of the United States.
Fellowship Terms and Conditions
CCRDC Dissertation Fellowships are essentially a waiver of the lab access
fees normally associated with a research project. They do not include a
stipend, reimbursement for travel expenses, or any other compensation. The
fellowships also do not cover special fees charged by the Center for Economic
Studies for data development or use of non-core data files. The CCRDC
Dissertation Fellowships are not transferable to another Census Research
Data Center
or between the CCRDC's two locations. Fellowships
are for dissertation research only; they cannot be used for projects
conducted jointly with other investigators. The continuation of the CCRDC
graduate student fellowship program is entirely dependent on the continued
support of our funders. The procedures for awarding
graduate student fellowships may change at any time without notice.
Fellowship Applications
Students who wish to apply for a fellowship should follow all of the usual
RDC proposal submission guidelines. Fellowship applicants should enter
"Applying for CCRDC Dissertation Fellowship" in the funding section
of the RDC proposal cover sheet. In addition, students should submit the
following items to the RDC administrator:
- Cover letter
requesting a fellowship. The cover letter should specify the student's
organizational affiliation, the title of the project, the purpose of the
research, the amount of access needed (number of days or hours per week
and period of time), and the RDC site to be used (UCLA or UC Berkeley).
- At least one letter of
recommendation from a faculty advisor or mentor. Faculty letter(s)
should discuss the student's research experience and potential.
- An official or
unofficial copy of the student's graduate school transcript.
- A copy of the
student's vita.
Applications should be submitted to the appropriate RDC Administrator
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