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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Financial Aid Offers for PhD Students: Is There a “Normal” Amount These Days?

Brian Leiter

Based on anecdotal evidence, I have the impression that the nature of financial aid awards to new PhD students varies quite dramatically from school to school.  I thought it might be useful, both for departments and students, to collect these anecdotes in one place.  Two kinds of posts are welcome here.  Faculty, who must sign their name, can post the financial aid awards in their department, e.g.:

University of [insert name] offers each year two Fellowships (three years, no teaching, 18K/year plus 3K summer money, full tuition remission), and 5-7 TAships (15K per year, some summer teaching available, 80% tuition remission, typically involves marking or leading discussion with 40 students per term).  Support is available for up to seven years; those on Fellowship are eligible for TAships after Fellowship support runs out.

Alternatively, students (who must post a real e-mail, it won't appear) can post the financial aid awards they have received from particular programs, e.g.:

[insert name] University offered me a University Fellowship, five years of guaranteed support of 22K per year, plus summer support (5K) for three summers; full tuition remission; must teach in the 2nd and 4th years.  No support guaranteed thereafter.

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33 responses to “Financial Aid Offers for PhD Students: Is There a “Normal” Amount These Days?”

  1. Roger Ariew

    University of South Florida offers each year two Fellowships in philosophy in a university-wide competition (five years, no teaching, 22K/year, full tuition remission, most fees remitted as well), and 4-6 TAships (2 at 15K per year, some summer teaching available, full tuition remission, most fees remitted as well, typically involves marking or leading discussion with 50-75 students per term; the other TAships at 10.5K, same conditions as the first two Dean's Excellence Awards). Support is available for up to five years; some adjunct teaching available after Fellowship or TAship support runs out.

    Reply
  2. Mark Sheskin

    Yale University: "Students are normally given at least five years of full support — tuition, plus stipend, plus health care — in the form of non-teaching fellowships for the first two years and the fifth (or sixth) year, and teaching fellowships for the third and fourth year. For 2008-09, the stipend is $25,000 for both teaching and non-teaching fellowships. In the past five years, the stipends have increased every year for both incoming and current students." (from http://www.yale.edu/philosophy/grad.html )

    (to moderator: I am actually in Yale's psych dept . . . but I would argue that I can copy and paste from the Yale Philosophy page at a philosophy grad student level of competence. Text from official departmental websites seems like a reasonable third type of acceptable post for this thread.)

    Reply
  3. Sandy Goldberg

    The Philosophy Department at Northwestern awards five graduate student slots annually, with each slot amounting to 5 years of financial commitment from the university. Each of the five annual students we enroll gets 5 years of guaranteed support: 2 years of Fellowship (no teaching) and 3 years of TA service. TA service amounts to TAing for 2 courses/quarter (with around 25 students/course).

    The financial package we offer includes tuition remission, an annual stipend, plus guaranteed summer money for the first four years, and the opportunity to teach in the summer of one's fifth year. If you add in the guaranteed summer money, the total package (not including tuition remission) comes to around $20,000 the first year, and a bit less in years 2-4, and then (assuming teaching in the summer of one's fifth year) it goes back to around $20,000 (otherwise it goes to the base-line $15,000).

    In addition to applying for one of these five slots, applicants to our program can also compete for admission through one of the interdisciplinary "cluster programs" run by Northwestern's Graduate School. Philosophy students admitted through such programs are located in our department (and receive their PhD in philosophy) but agree to take a certain number of courses in other departments (i.e., students in the Cognitive Science cluster take courses in linguistics and cognitive psychology in addition to courses in philosophy of mind and language; students in the Ancient Traditions cluster take courses in Classics and History in addition to courses in Ancient Philosophy; etc.) Students admitted through a cluster program receive an additional $1000 to add to their stipend plus an additional $5000 in travel and research support.

    Reply
  4. Anon applicant

    I have received the following offers this year.

    The University of Michigan offered 6 years of support consisting of 6 semesters of fellowships (2 must be taken in Fall and Winter of the first year, and 1 is a summer semester) and 7 semesters of teaching assistantships (with 2 additional, optional summer TAships after the third year subject to availability). For the first 3 years there is summer support of 3.5K. The first year fellowship is 16K/year and the TAships and fellowships for subsequent years are 16-18K/year at 08/09 figures.

    The University of Pittsburgh, HPS department, offered 3 years of fellowship and 2 years of TAships, all 21K a year.

    Rutgers University offered 3 years of an Excellence Fellowship at 23K/year and 2 years of TAships which come with 27K/year under the current AAUP contract.

    All offers include full tuition remission and medical insurance.

    Reply
  5. Jon Lawhead

    Columbia University gave me a Faculty Fellowship: five years of guaranteed support at $22,500/year (with a cost of living raise each year) and full tuition remission. Teaching required in second, third, and fourth years. Additional summer support available on a case-by-case basis (i.e. it requires a separate application each year).

    Reply
  6. Prospective Graduate

    I received the same Faculty Fellowship from Columbia as Jon Lawhead, which also includes guaranteed housing.

    Reply
  7. Sandy Goldberg

    Quick correction to my earlier post (given to me by various grad students here): the TA burden at Northwestern should read two SECTIONS per quarter, not two COURSES per quarter. The sections are sections of the same course, so TAs only have one course per quarter for which they serve as TAs.

    Reply
  8. another prospective

    Here are the details of my offers this year (except Michigan since that's already been mentioned):

    Brown: 5 years support at 19k plus 3 years of guaranteed summer support at 3.5k. Two years fellowship, three TA.

    USC: 5 years support (with a strong possibility of a 6th) at 30k (this is a university fellowship; I think the regular rate is about 10k less). Five semesters fellowship, five semesters TA. There is some summer support after the second year.

    UNC: 5 years support (with an nearly guaranteed 6th). Two years fellowship at ~16.5k, three years TA at ~14.5k. One can teach in the summers for an additional 4.5k (except after the first year).

    Princeton: 5 years support at ~26k (this rate includes summer support). 6 or 7 semesters fellowship, 3 or 4 semesters TA.

    Reply
  9. Anon

    I confirm the above posts' information for Rutgers, UNC, Princeton, and Michigan, and note that Yale offered me $25,500, not $25,000. I was also offered the $30,000 package at USC, so am not sure what the normal stipend is.

    Cornell offers $21,400 for the first year, a "comparable" amount for the other non-teaching year, and three teaching assistantship years at the "going rate" (also $21,400). I was also offered four summer fellowships at $4,600.

    MIT offers $20,457 for the first year, and they "expect to" offer that much for the fifth year. The second through fourth year, students have teaching assistantships at $20,961.

    Reply
  10. Balazs Gyenis

    I would like to note that comparison of financial aid offers only makes sense in light of costs of living which also vary dramatically across the US. For instance in the past five years I never needed to pay more than $350/month for prime location housing; when I shared apartment with other grads the figure was even lower (I'm a Pitt HPS grad). Friends of mine from the Bay Area or NYC who need to cough up $800/month for a small place always find this shocking; and $500/month difference translates to $6000/year. Food prices and cost of flying out from the city should also be factored in.

    Reply
  11. Prospective GS

    Ohio State 5 Year TAship of 14k, tuition and health. Cost of living raises expected.

    (Note: Ohio State philosophy graduate students also compete for university wide first-year fellowships of low to mid 20k's).

    Reply
  12. Alan Martin

    I am on fellowship at the University of Florida. The Alumni Fellow package consists of $17000 per year for four years. The first and fourth year are fellowship as are four summers (unlike most graduate students we must take summer courses). The second and third year are assistantship at the same level. I am told that the standard package is five years assistantship at $13000 per year (four years if you come in with an MA). In the past, the University of Florida has been generous about extending packages beyond the promised time, as almost nobody finishes on time.

    Reply
  13. West Coast Grad Student

    The point made by Balazs Gyenis is a good one. If we were to adjust for cost of living, some people attending school in places like San Francisco/Berkeley, Seattle, and NYC would be receiving MUCH less than people in Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, and Pittsburgh.

    Reply
  14. Anon Prospective

    Columbia has been mentioned already, as has UNC.

    UCSD: 18K fellowship for first and fifth year, TAship for years 2-4 at ~16.5K. "In the summer quarter students also have opportunities to TA, teach a class (when advanced) and obtain paid summer research assistantships with faculty. These positions pay between $1000-$3000/summer"

    Reply
  15. prospective as well

    Michigan State is 12K/year for TAship w/ tuition remission and health ins or university fellowship of about 24K/year plus same deal on tuition and HI (grad students are unionized here, woo hoo). 5 years contingent on availability of funds.

    Colorado is 15K/year TAship plus tuition remission. Health ins is extra. 5 years and usually longer.

    Reply
  16. Virtual Graduate

    University of California, Irvine: 16K fellowship for first year, 16K TA-ship for second and third years, 16K teaching stipend for fourth and fifth years; full tuition remission, all years; guaranteed housing; health insurance.

    Georgetown University: 18.5K renewable TA-ship for all five years; full tuition remission, all years; health insurance.

    Reply
  17. Jeff H

    Rice currently offers just over $15.5k, plus full tuition and a little over two thirds, I think, of your medical insurance. This figure has gone up each year I've been here but, alas, not by enough to keep up with the cost of living. Students still end up having to pay roughly 1200 dollars a year of other fees, most of which is the remaining portion of your medical insurance. (Coming from Canada, the latter strikes me as barbaric, especially given how little it actually covers.) A significant gotcha worth mentioning is that the first of these are due *before* you get your first paycheque each year; this is a pain.

    There is no summer money, but a limited number of teaching opportunities are available (summer and otherwise). You're on your own with regard to housing as well; and though Rice has decent apartments specifically for graduate students, you will need either a roommate or some other source of income (it doesn't have to be much) if you want to afford them on that stipend. You do not *have* to teach at any point, but from your second year on you are expected to TA for one course or otherwise help out a particular prof each year.

    Reading over this it sounds a bit negative, but let me mention a selling point. Houston's cost of living is quite low, and good apartments can be had, if not as cheaply as Balazs Gyenis reports for Pitt, then at prices closer to that than to those you'll find in New York and California. I mentioned that the "official" graduate apartments are a little rich for grad students without assistance, but that's largely an artefact of their being located in a relatively expensive area; you're paying a slight premium for convenience. And you'll never have cause to complain about the lack of space in a Houston apartment; in that respect, at least, things really are bigger in Texas.

    Reply
  18. Jeff H

    Oh, and further to Rice – they tell you funding is guaranteed for five years, though according to my immigration paperwork it's actually six.

    Reply
  19. Anon prospective

    I received and offer from Stanford for 5 years at 21k per year (with an anticipated increase for inflation), plus an additional four summers of support at $5600. The teaching load averages out to one quarter per year, with most of it concentrated in the second and third years.

    Reply
  20. Prospective GS

    Washington University St Louis (PNP)

    Six year fellowship of $17,940 (teaching in years 2-5). Students also typically qualify for at least $3,000 in additional summer funding.

    Reply
  21. Holly Andersen

    There also seems to be some fairly major differences in how, and whether, programs fund students who take longer than the period of guaranteed funding in order to finish their degrees. I am also a Pitt HPS grad; the department guarantees funding for five years, which seems common, but is very strongly committed to funding students who take 6 or 7 (or more) years to finish. This might be something a prospective grad could ask programs about. Most of us anticipate having no trouble finishing in five years, but the reality is sometimes different, and it is worth knowing that you will not have to suddenly go scrambling for funding during the last year or two of your degree.

    Reply
  22. anon

    I just want to corroborate the information on Pittsburgh's philosophy department (I am told it's true for Michigan as well); several graduate students are in their eighth or ninth years of study, and continue to receive funding. It's also my understanding that these students are given latitude to teach their own courses.

    Reply
  23. bradley

    The standard Notre Dame package as of last year (I don't know if it's increased) was $16,900 for each academic year, with an additional $3,000 for the first, second and fourth summers. Support is guaranteed for five years, and can usually be obtained for at least a year or two after that. Students receive 1.5 years of fellowship, 2.5 years of TAship (two sections of one course), and one year of teaching duties.

    There are also a few fellowships that are $22k per year, 2.5 years fellowship, 2 years TAship, .5 years teaching.

    With the cost of living in South Bend (rent is ~$350/mo for a decent place), grad students live quite comfortably.

    Reply
  24. Andrew

    It's worth noting that one can–on the standard Notre Dame stipend–buy a home in South Bend. And many graduate students here do so.

    Reply
  25. Justin Sytsma

    I can confirm the same for Pittsburgh; our two bedroom home with a yard and a patio is comfortably affordable on the HPS grad stipend.

    Reply
  26. Anon

    The University of Arizona promises about $15,000 of TAship support with almost full tuition waivers each year for five years. (There is usually roughly $100 of fees due every semester.) TAs can enroll in student health insurance for free. TAships typically involve either grading for and leading three discussion sections with about 30 students *per section* or, less often, independently teaching a course with about 50 students. Summer teaching is sometimes available for about $2,000–though the pay may be unexpectedly cut if student enrollment in the course drops below a predetermined number. A first-year or half-year fellowship (for an amount comparable to the TAship salary) is sometimes also offered to incoming students. Additional teaching relief is, as far as I know, generally not included in the financial packages of incoming students. Travel support is extremely limited.

    Reply
  27. Villi

    What happens once your funding runs out? Shouldn't this be part of your budget too? Median time to a PhD in humanities in the U.S. is 9 years, which means half of those who successfully defend take longer. University of Arizona's median is 7 years without a prior MA making much difference. (This, of course, correlates with how tough the job market is.) How stressful will your life be after that guaranteed funding is up? Seems like you have to not only budget for your 5 years of grad school, but budget and save up for beyond that too (assuming you'll have a job aftewards since there were very few tenure-track positions out there even before the market crash and lots of qualified applicants).

    Reply
  28. Anon

    I received an offer from Johns Hopkins that included five years of guaranteed support at around $17,000, with full tuition reimbursement and partial fee reimbursement (I would have been responsible for about $500 in fees for enrollment, but only the first year). My understanding is that this was Hopkins' standard offer. I believe it included two years of fellowship, followed by three years of TA work (with the possibility of a fifth year fellowship). This seemed like a stretch for living in Baltimore, but the current students seemed to be doing fine (albeit, at the cost of rooming with 3-4 other people).

    The general word at the department was that the past culture had been one where students were typically funded for 7-9 years if necessary, but that the 5 year policy was being more strictly enforced in the future (which, by the way, is also the case at several other universities I visited….including my current university).

    Reply
  29. ANON

    I won a fellowship (Graduate College-wide competition) from the University of Illinois at Chicago consisting of 20k for the first and fourth year and TA-ship for the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th year amounting to ∼16k per year. Beyond that I think I am on my own. Package includes tuition plus fees waiver.

    Reply
  30. Anon Applicant

    With regard to ANON's claim that UIC students are on their own after the fifth year: UIC stated (in their acceptance letter) that they typically provide funding for a 6th year as well.

    Reply
  31. Prospective GS

    City University at the Grad Center (CUNY)

    Five year 18,000 fellowship (teaching in years 2 through 4).

    For more info see:
    http://web.gc.cuny.edu/provost/doctoral_students/fellowships_awards/chancellors.htm

    Reply
  32. Admitted student

    From Penn's offer of admission this year:

    "a five-year package of aid, including payment of tuition, fees, health insurance, and a $21,603 stipend per year and summer funding for three summers at $3,605 each."

    Reply
  33. Jeff H

    A minor correction regarding Rice. I shouldn't say there's *no* summer funding, having just found out I'm getting some. But it should be looked at as a small helping hand, not something you can actually live on. No-one gets more than $1000 and not everyone gets anything at all. (It depends, not on how you're doing relative to your colleagues, but on how good a reason you can give for needing it.)

    Usually the only academic-related way to make a livable amount in the summer is by teaching, though the occasional RAship or similar work for a professor has been known to happen as well.

    Reply

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