Financial Support

Graduate students requiring financial support and making satisfactory progress toward the doctorate are ordinarily provided with financial support during the period in which they are enrolled. This support usually consists of partial or full tuition grants, fellowships, teaching assistantships, or research assistantships. All entering students should complete a financial statement to be used as the basis for awarding financial support. Successful applicants are informed of the level of financial awards at the time of notification of admission. Applicants for admission should also explore the fellowships awarded to individuals on a national competitive basis. Grants administered by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, the Social Science Research Council of Canada, the Population Council, and other such agencies may provide support.

The Graduate School has a limited fund to which students may apply for support to present papers at professional meetings. The department chair also has some discretionary funds available for this purpose. In addition, the Council on Regional Studies provides small sums on a competitive basis to cover expenses incurred in traveling to other countries to conduct research (students should contact the council office directly). The Center of International Studies also makes funds available for comparative research. East Asian Studies and Latin American Studies provide support to some students for language study. The Center for the Study of American Religion has some funds for stipends and research expenses for students actively involved in its programs. The University Center for Human Values administers a series of dissertation fellowships, as does the Wilson Society of Fellows. A wide range of other university fellowships for dissertation-year study are listed in the Graduate Catalog. Students interested in applying for these various funds should begin well in advance (usually in the fall) by contacting their faculty advisor, the graduate secretary, the Director of Graduate Study, or the Graduate School.

Graduate students in the department receive summer support as part of their fellowships and by working as research assistants on the many funded research projects currently being directed by department faculty, by serving as teaching assistants in the department, by taking research jobs at private firms in the area, and by serving as adjunct instructors at Rutgers University, The College of New Jersey, Rider University, or many of the other colleges in the surrounding region.