Received offer to work for free, how to negotiate for a salary? I was an international student and graduated 3 years ago. Now I want to continue my research career instead of working in the industry. I worked for free for a professor for one month last year. It was a good experience and we had a good impression to each other. I approach her again and asked to get back to her lab, she said that she could consider to work together on a project for 1 year, but she has no money. On one side, I was always excited about to be back to a lab to do more researches, and expecting to extend it to a PhD study; on the other side, I couldn't be glad and work well without enough money. I am going to meet this professor soon, I was wondering:


Why did she asked me to work for free?
How to negotiate or should I just give it up?
The question you have to answer is:


  Can you go for one year without eating and living under a bridge?


As I assume the answer is no, you simply tell her you cannot work without getting paid. She shouldn't be offended by this.

Even if she has no money, she may know other labs that have, and can recommend you My master's advisor came one day with a friend of his and said "this is Prof. Smith, and he is looking for a PhD student in a project I think will interest you".

Lastly, depending on the country, working for free may be illegal. In Spain it is common to do PhDs unfunded, in Sweden it is considered slavery.