Summer Research Fellowship Stipends Increasing to 2023 Level A Year Early

The Graduate School will increase the stipend for its Summer Research Fellowships to $8,250 for summer 2022, a 27 percent boost that will raise the stipend to the planned 2023 level a year ahead of schedule.

Like many peer institutions, Duke Ph.D. programs currently provide either 9- or 12-month stipends, depending on each program’s resources. To help fill the summer gap for students on nine-month funding, The Graduate School offers guaranteed and competitive Summer Research Fellowships.

Starting in fall 2022, all Duke Ph.D. students in their guaranteed funding period will receive full 12-month stipends. As part of that transition, the Summer Research Fellowship’s stipend was slated to increase to $7,500 for summer 2022 and $8,250 for summer 2023, ramping it up to the same level as the summer portion of a full 12-month stipend.

“We were fortunate to have received good returns on some of our fellowship endowments and generous donor support for the Graduate School Annual Fund,” Graduate School Dean Paula D. McClain said. “We decided to pour those additional financial resources into increasing the Summer Research Fellowship stipend to the 2023 rate a year ahead of schedule so our students can reap the benefits earlier.”

For summer 2021, The Graduate School distributed more than $5 million in Summer Research Fellowships. The fellowships provide a stipend from June 1 to August 31, and also cover summer tuition and health fee.

This financial support helps students focus on their research and academic pursuits during the summer months and has been especially crucial during the pandemic, which disrupted many other typical summer funding sources. In recent years, The Graduate School has also designated Summer Research Fellowships to support specific areas of research, such as systemic racism and inequalities as well as women or girls of color.