Grad School Funding

starbright
Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:30:58 +0000

It really does depend on a) the field, b) the school within the field and c) whether you are talking about a professional graduate degree or an academic/research one and d) a terminal masters degree or a PhD. So really not possible to answer without more specific information.

Huge variability. Just to illustrate that variability I will give you an example. All PhD programs in my field, for example, provide full funding to all admitted students (tuition plus living stipend). but the amount depends on the school (and at some schools, might depend on the particular student- some students coming in with higher funding than others). And what you need to do for that funding depends on the school (some require a teaching assistanceship, which can mean anything from TAing to teaching your own classes and the quantity of classes varies dramatically; other schools it’s a research assistanceship where you work with faculty on research but that could be X hours or it could be more like a fluid co-author relationship; other places just provide a fellowship with no requirements attached, but you would want to do lots of research anyway). Sometimes the funding is attached to a faculty member’s grant, other times its coming from the graduate program or school in general (but in all cases its contractually guaranteed).