It might just be semantics that are throwing you for a loop. The money within the colleges are for teaching assistants and research assistants. The research assistants will be funded usually by a company or government orgization usually thru a professor. A student can then turn that research into a thesis. But just getting funding to do a thesis, no.
Some companies will give a signing bonus for graduates of degrees that are in high demand. But they won’t, because they get enough applicants without having to, for most jobs. At this point I would imagine that a degree in chemical engineering is not is high demand.