Funding

Students entering the program in fall semester are guaranteed funding for their first year by teaching or research assistantships available through the university or individual faculty grants, with continued support contingent on maintaining good standing and progress in the program. Students applying to the spring semester can only enter the program through funding support by individual faculty grants. Your GPA, undergraduate transcript, CV, statement of purpose and letters of recommendation are all factors when awarding assistantships.

When you are awarded an assistantship, your degree is heavily subsidized. You will benefit from tuition waivers, based on the hourly level of your assistantship, plus the program, department or faculty will cover significant additional costs, such as your health care. Check out the grad school tuition and fees tables for details on the cost benefits with an assistantship.

Students on a teaching assistantship perform a variety of duties and assignments, from teaching classes to conducting their dissertation research, analyzing data in the lab, and contributing to conference and journal papers under the direction of a faculty advisor. Some students will work as a grader for one or several courses, and others will teach lab sections. For a full-time assistantship, you can expect to spend 20 hours a week on your grading/teaching work. Most students find the teaching experience very rewarding, plus it looks great on your resume.

Students on a research assistantship conduct mainly dissertation research in the lab under the direction of a faculty advisor. You can expect to participate in conducting studies, analyzing data and contributing to conference and journal papers. The experience is valuable for developing your research methodology and your critical thinking skills and learning to work with equipment and testing systems.