Graduate education is an expensive enterprise. Every graduate student must develop a comprehensive plan to finance years of training, including employment, educational loans, and fellowships and grants. The ability to identify and compete in funding competitions and to command grant support is an essential skill, not only for the graduate student years but also deep into a career in the professoriate.

Most doctoral students rely on a base of support from the University, mainly in the form of scholarships and fellowships, but also including educational loans and employment. In the first few years of study many students seek supplementary fellowship support from internal and external competitions, such as NSF, Ford, and Title VI FLAS fellowships. The Division combines such awards with University support, to a stipend level greater than either fellowship alone, up to a cap. In this combination, the Division may reduce or entirely replace the Divisional stipend with the new fellowship, depending on its level of award.

Grants

Students also seek smaller grant support for specific projects, and travel grants for preliminary research and conferences in these early years. There are also various external programs available to support students for in-country study of a language. There is significantly more support available for travel and research after admission to candidacy.

Dissertation Fellowship Competitions

There are many dissertation write-up (or ‘dissertation year’) fellowship competitions, both internal and external, to support students in the final year of study as they complete the dissertation and convene a defense. Dissertation write-up fellowships generally limit the amount of other support, particularly from employment, with the expectation that the Fellow will concentrate on finishing the program and graduate during or shortly after the fellowship tenure.

Departmental Guidance

Your department is one of the best places for advice and guidance in considering fellowships and grants, along with your faculty advisor. The Department, particularly the Student Affairs Academic Administrator, has wide experience with many sources of funding, both general and specific to the discipline. Departments often have travel funds and small grants available to students, and some have an array of Departmental dissertation research and write-up support. The Departmental web site is a good place to begin.

Travel Grants and Division-wide Competitions

The Division also provides some travel grants, awarded in division-wide competitions, and also offers fifteen dissertation write-up fellowships. A wide range of grants and fellowships are awarded through Area Studies Centers and Interdisciplinary Centers. The Office of the Dean of Students, in concert with the Departments, Centers, and the Office of Graduate Affairs manages many of these fellowship and grant programs. We publish an annual “Brief Guide to Fellowships and Grants” that contains a host of contacts and useful information about internal and external funding sources. With the Office of Graduate Affairs, the Division hosts one or two sessions early Autumn quarter to talk about fellowships and grants. Assistant Dean of Students Kelly Pollock is available to provide detail information about Divisional competitions and to help students identify appropriate external sources and develop strong applications.

Office of Graduate Affairs

The University’s Office of Graduate Affairs handles many of the major external awards that cross divisional borders, such as NSF, Javits, and Fulbright fellowships. The office compiles useful information on funding sources, makes several fellowship presentations throughout the year, and maintains a kiosk of links to many fellowship sites.