PhD Support
It is the expectation of the Graduate School that Ph.D. students will be financially supported, through a combination of departmental and extra-departmental funds, for the majority of the time they are registered and working toward their degree. Generally speaking, Ph.D. students should receive payment of tuition, either in the form of a departmental scholarship or an external fellowship that covers some portion of the cost of education, and stipend and fee support for a minimum of five years.
Graduate students are supported in a variety of ways. Some will receive fellowships from their departments; others will receive competitive fellowships from the Graduate School or other governmental or private sources. In many of the basic medical science programs, students are appointed to training grant fellowships for their first two years of study. Other students are supported through teaching or research assistantships, funded through a department’s instructional budget, or a faculty member’s research funds.
While financial commitments are made to students for a set number of years, it is important to understand that the overall graduate awards budget is dependent on a significant number of students obtaining external fellowships. We expect all students to make a good faith effort to obtain such external support at some point during their funding period and students should be encouraged to pursue these opportunities.
