Ph.D. Student Affiliation and Backstop Funding Policy

Purpose

To clarify The Graduate School (TGS) expectations regarding the financial obligation for Ph.D. student funding.

Background

Full time Ph.D. students who are in good academic standing and are making adequate progress toward their degree are guaranteed financial support for their first five consecutive academic years beginning at the date of matriculation into the Graduate School. In order to make this guarantee, The Graduate School must have a Management Center backstop for each graduate student in order to protect each student from the potential loss of external funding during his or her projected years of study. Continued support is, as always, contingent on acceptable academic and research performance as determined in an ongoing manner by the student’s advisor, Director of Graduate Studies, and committee, where appropriate. The term “affiliate” is used in this document exclusively to mean the choice of a degree program open to Ph.D. students who have matriculated into an admitting program in which the student can complete the degree in any one of the programs or departments designated as affiliates of the admitting program.

Policy

1. In the event that a student selects a thesis advisor from a department or program other than the admitting department or program, and therefore opts to affiliate with the advisor’s department or program to complete the Ph.D., the student should be funded in accordance with the compensation model of the department or program with which the student affiliates. Students must be advised by their admitting program Director of Graduate Studies that their stipend level will correspond to that practiced in the department or program of their chosen affiliation. Funding can be provided through any combination of departmental or competitive fellowship, teaching or research assistantship, or external support.
    
2. In the event that a Ph.D. student’s thesis advisor is the primary source of the student’s support and is unable to meet the five-year funding commitment, the student’s support (tuition remission, fees, and stipend) will be covered by the department or program that receives the indirect cost revenues (ICRs) generated by the thesis advisor’s grants until such a time as suitable rearrangements can be made for renewed support. In most cases, such “backstop” support will come from the department in which the thesis advisor holds his/her primary appointment. Backstop funding agreements are expected to occur for the first five consecutive years of study, which is the standard institutional funding commitment to Ph.D. students. In some schools or graduate programs, this commitment continues until the end of the Ph.D. student’s career.